Accra, 22 October 2024 – IFAD will be looking at pursuing and developing investments in an integrated manner, with complementarities between sustainable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and climate resilient value chains, and with clear pathways and measurable results in its next country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) in Ghana. To do so, the Fund will need to develop the COSOP with explicit strategic orientations on support for business models, aligned with its targeted groups, explained Hansdeep Khaira, Senior Evaluation Officer at the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE), during the Ghana Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE) final national workshop, on 22 October 2024.

In his presentation, Mr Khaira noted that the IFAD country programme did not deliver effective pathways towards effective pro-poor investments. For instance, IFAD did not fully leverage its institutional capacity for programme development, and strategic partnership with the government. Without viable business models, IFAD was not able to significantly leverage its long-term partnership to assist the government in co-financing and the mobilisation of public funds to attract private investments.

“The IFAD supported programme has not applied a holistic value-chain approach to support agricultural development, with less than desired results obtained at downstream of the chain. The supported rural enterprises have tended to be stand-alone without clear prospects for value addition and growth”, stated Dr Indran A. Naidoo, IOE Director, in his opening statement.

Against this backdrop, the IOE Senior Officer suggested that supports to MSMEs should be linked to growing value chains to enable them to access higher and profitable value markets. Further, supported agricultural commodities should have clear links to wider value chains that have been identified by government as drivers of national development and growth.

Co-organized by the Government of Ghana and IOE, in collaboration with IFAD’s West and Central Africa Division, the workshop brought together a wealth of high-level attendants, including The Honourable Dr Bryan Acheampong, Minister for Food and Agriculture, and The Honourable Dr Stephen Amoah, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance. Participants attending the event represented the government of Ghana, development partners, civil society organizations, private sector partners, and IFAD senior management and staff.

“I wish to commend the Independent Office of Evaluation for an excellent job. Indeed, the evaluation findings as presented are a true reflection of the country’s strategic opportunities programme (COSOP). The current COSOP has contributed to the achievement of selected SDGs, and to promoting closer and sustainable rural transformation by investing in interventions that enabled poor rural people to increase their incomes through resilient livelihoods”, said The Hon. Dr Bryan Acheampong.

This CSPE is the third country programme evaluation conducted in Ghana, and it covers the period 2013-2023. The total estimated cost of the seven investment projects covered by the CSPE amounted to US$628.1 million, of which one third was financed by IFAD and rest by domestic and international co-financing.

During the workshop, participants discussed the main findings, recommendations and issues emerging from the CSPE. The meeting also provided an opportunity to focus on the opportunities and challenges of the partnership between IFAD and the Government in the near future and discuss strategic priorities for IFAD's upcoming programme.

“IFAD has been a key development partner for Ghana. Most projects have specifically targeted various actors along the agricultural value chain. With IFAD’s primary objective of alleviating rural poverty, the interventions have remarkably contributed to harness efforts to achieve the SDGs on ‘no poverty’ and ‘hunger’. IFAD has committed to creating lasting synergies that will impact the role of smallholder farmers”, affirmed the Hon. Dr Stephen Amoah.

Workshop participants recognized that IFAD's programme contributed to positive outcomes, in relation to increased agricultural productivity and production and development and strengthening of enterprises. In terms of increased crop production and productivity, the supply of inputs and improved farming practices led to higher levels of production and productivity for some projects. In particular, the production kits enabled farmers to increase yield by 20 to 30 per cent.

The programme’s support to enterprises also created some employment opportunities, including for vulnerable groups. Business development services led to increase in self-employment activities by 24 percentage points between 2012 and 2019. Furthermore, IFAD projects contributed to building human capital through strengthening participants’ skills, especially related to financial literacy, which led to improved financial access. These results were supported by strong and effective partnerships with government institutions at the national and sub-national levels, and with the private sector at the supply end, and the partnership with Rome Based Agencies was emergent.

Discussions brought to the forefront sustainability issues with regards to the decentralized service delivery model for enterprises,  a lack of systems to ensure that farmers would continue to access good quality inputs without project support and maintenance of production and market access infrastructure.

Other challenges also emerged. The demand led approach for partnering with financial institutions did not work as expected, compounded by complex financial products that were not aligned to the needs of the rural or agriculture clientele. Also, there was a lack of clear-cut planning and coordination to link production, processing and marketing support for a better balance in value chains. Furthermore, the formal contracts with agri-businesses were limited to the supply of inputs but not the sale of agricultural produce. Empowerment of beneficiaries through building their social capital was not achieved as expected.

To address these challenges, it is recommended that IFAD further expand partnerships with the private sector and other development actors supporting rural enterprises and value chains; strengthen the targeting strategy by being more responsive to needs and choices of the target groups and more systematic in the geographic scope; and systematically address capacity inefficiencies, including the implementation of functional system of documentation, monitoring and accountability. It is also recommended that IFAD invest in rural infrastructure for effective pro-poor value chains.

Ghana is a lower middle-income country, and poverty is estimated at 27 per cent in 2022. Agriculture remains a cornerstone of the economy, constituting 21 per cent of the GDP and employing 71 per cent of the rural populace. Smallholder farmers account for about 60 per cent of all farm holdings; about 42 per cent of all smallholders are women. Food and agricultural imports will continue to grow as Ghana’s underdeveloped food processing sector is unable to meet increasing demand. Ghana faces significant climate change challenges and illegal mining activities have resulted in agricultural land degradation.

For further information, please contact Dr Alexander Voccia, Senior Evaluation Communication & KM Specialist [here].

• To access the Ghana CSPE executive summary, please click here.
• To access the Ghana CSPE national workshop opening statement by Dr Naidoo, please click here.
• To access the Ghana CSPE infographic, please click here.
• To access the Ghana Country Programme Evaluation of 2012, please click here.
• To access the Ghana Country Portfolio Evaluation of 1995, please click here.

• To access the brochure ‘More than a journey | 20 years of independence, please click here.
• To access the latest edition of Independent Magazine, please click here.
• To learn why independent evaluation makes IFAD a more credible institution, please click here.

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