Who is Free Enterprise is an agro-input dealer working with 3,000 smallholder farmers (of which about 40% are women) who produce rice, soybean, maize, millet, watermelon and cowpea. Each smallholder cultivates an average of 2 acres. The company was awarded District Best Farmer for millet and rice in 2017 and watermelon in 2010. The company also provides the smallholder farmers with farm inputs such as seed, fertiliser, weedicides and pesticides, as well as educating them on the use of the farm inputs. Who is Free Enterprise operates in East and West Mamprusi Municipals, Karaga and Bunkurugu Nyankpanduri districts in the North East and Northern regions. The company joined the MADE programme in 2016 and since then has aggregated 3,300 MT of soybean, 17,600 MT of rice and 20,000 MT of maize. In 2019, the enterprise supplied 240 MT of fertiliser and 45.9 MT of maize seed to farmers.
MADE interventions
- Recruited, trained and deployed two Business Development Advisors to advise and support new farmer start-ups.
- Invested in demonstrations to showcase new products and services.
- Facilitated relationships with other MADE partners for access to complementary inputs and services.
- Facilitated/strengthened commercial partnerships with, for example, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Impacts
- Increased smallholder outreach from 30 in 2016 to 3,000 in 2019.
- Increased access to inputs (seed, weedicides, insecticides and fertilisers), credit and ready markets.
- Increased understanding of good agricultural practices and proper application of agro-inputs.
- Facilitated timely application of inputs.
- Increased yields from 7 to 12 bags (50 kg) per acre for maize and 3 to 10 bags (50 kg) per acre for soybean through the adoption of improved seed and the use of recommended best practices.
