Duri Farms Company Limited is located in Bulenga, in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region. The company undertakes commercial farming and operates an out-grower scheme to produce maize, soybeans, groundnuts and sorghum. It supports 2,600 smallholder farmers (of whom 80% are women), providing them with bundles of inputs as well as threshing and aggregation services at the end of the farming season. Each farmer cultivates 3 acres. Duri Farms has raised the yields and improved the incomes of these farmers through the provision of ploughing services, certified seeds, weedicides and training. The company first partnered with MADE in 2017. In 2019, it aggregated 3,000 MT of maize, 1,120 MT of soybeans, 200 MT of groundnuts and 150 MT of sorghum.
MADE interventions
- Organised on-farm demonstrations every season to showcase new varieties, yields of improved seeds and good agricultural practices.
- Recruited, trained and deployed 11 Farm Enterprise Advisors (FEAs), responsible for supervising the smallholder farmers and teaching them good agricultural practices.
- Facilitated commercial links with large buyers including Premium Foods, Ghana Commodity Exchange and Yedent.
- Facilitated relationships with other MADE partners such as Antika and Seyan Enterprise.
Impacts
- Expanded the out-grower network from 1,200 smallholder farmers in 2017 to 2,600 in 2019.
- Established a 97% crop recovery rate for the company’s out-growers.
- Encouraged more smallholder farmers to participate in village saving and loan associations, which has helped them to diversify.
- FEA advice and training on good agricultural practices, has enabled farmers to increase yields from 1 MT of maize per acre to 2 MT per acre, as well as improving the quality of their produce.
- Increased understanding of good agricultural practices and proper application of agro-inputs.
