Millennium Youth and Skills and Development Centre (MILLYSDEC) is an aggregation business that supports smallholder farmers with ploughing and input credit and receives payment in the form of produce after harvest. The company maintains operations in six districts, namely: Karaga, Mion, Nanumba North Municipal, Nanumba South, Savelugu Municipal and Kumbungu. MILLYSDEC currently works with 5,650 farmers, of which about 60% are women, and the average farm size is approximately 1.5 acres. MILLYSDEC supplies soybean to Russian holdings, whereas maize and groundnut are supplied to other clients. The partnership with the MADE programme was entered into in 2016. In the 2018–19 production year alone, the total volume of produce aggregated was approximately 1,500 MT.
MADE interventions
- Recruited and trained 11 Farm Enterprise Advisors (FEAs) to assist farmers and monitor their fields.
- Introduced disease- and drought-tolerant, early-maturing groundnut seed varieties (Nkatie SARI, Yenyawso and Sum Nut 1).
- Established 15 demonstration farms to showcase and teach smallholder farmers good agronomic practices.
- Facilitated relationships with other MADE partner firms. Certified seed is sourced from Heritage Seeds.
- Strengthened commercial partnerships with other enterprises. Partnership arrangements for inputs have been set up with Dakissaga Enterprise, a licensed agro-input distributor in the Mion District.
Impacts
- Increased smallholder outreach from 1,000 to 5,650 farmers between 2016 and 2019.
- Increased access to inputs, credit, and markets. Links established with Savanna Marketing Company secured smallholder access to a ready market for farm products.
- Increased understanding of good agricultural practices and proper application of agro-inputs through training and demonstrations carried out by the FEAs.
- Increased yields for smallholders from 4 to 16 bags (100 kg) per acre of unshelled groundnut, between 2016 and 2019, through the use of improved seed and good agronomic practices.
