Outgrowers

The Outgrower Scheme

ITFC has been assisting subsistence farmers to farm mango since 2000, in the communities surrounding the nucleus farm.  In the initial stages of the outgrowers scheme, ITFC was supporting seventy-five farmers, with funds provided by a PSOM-project from Senter of the Dutch goverment.  At the moment ITFC is assisting 1,400 farmers with funds from Cordaid a Dutch NGO, Wienco Ghana Ltd. a Ghanaian based agricultural company, the United States Afican Development Foundation and the United Nations Development Program.  ITFC has a target of assisting 2000 outgrowers by the end of 2008. 

The ultimate aim of the outgrowers scheme is to reduce poverty by providing the local people with sustainable income generating ventures through the establishment of organic mango plantations. ITFC supports the farmers with a long-term loan in the form of inputs that are used only for farming one acre of organic mango, holding 100 trees.  ITFC has a contractual agreement with the farmers, the cost of the inputs are debited to individual accounts and will be paid back at the time of harvest (approximately 5 years).  The farmers will pay 30% of his or her income towards the total expenses owed.

The farmers work in groups and each farmer must provide one bag of maize as a registration fee and a sign of commitment.  ITFC provides the necessary inputs and technical advice and record keeping to successfully farm organic mango certified by the Soil Association, license No. FG9476 from the U.K.

It is the responsibility of the farmers to provide labour for their farms such as digging, fencing, weeding and bucket irrigation.  ITFC provides the technical aspects of farming organic mango such as, disease and pest control, pruning or shaping of the trees and water provision twice a week during the dry season.  During the rainy season ITFC strongly encourages the farmers to intercrop with groundnuts, not only as a cover crop to promote good farm hygiene and for its nitrogen fixing benefits, but also as an intermediate income benefit to the farmer.

Once the trees have reached maturity and they begin to fruit.  ITFC will provide the farmers with the technical assistance to harvest and transport the fruits to the ITFC packing station for cleaning, sorting, and packing.

ITFC will also market the mangos for the farmers, and give a clear statement of the number of kilograms harvested, the amount exported and sold within Ghana, the fees for packing and shipping, the loan payment, balance of their loan and the profit for the farmer.  While the outgrowers and their families will benefit for many generations to come, with a more profitable agricultural crop, ITFC stands to benefit by gaining a bulk marketing advantage.

The individual farming groups have unified themselves under the umbrella of the Organic Mango Outgrowers Association (OMOA), a registered organization that was formed as a means of internal control and to collectively negotiate for the benefit of all.  The association has an Administrator and an Account who answer to an elected Executive Body.  The Administrator and the Executive Body do decision-making on behalf of the farmers and represents the farmers when holding discussions with ITFC and other donor organizations.  To date, OMOA has received grant support for capacity building from Cordaid, and African Development Foundation, while the World Bank has assited with partial financing for the construction of an office block and for mango seedlings for their farms.

At the moment the scheme is being run by an Outgrowers Manager, three Assistant Outgrowers Managers and 45 field workers.