AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND VALUE CHAIN
ENHANCEMENT FEED THE FUTURE ACTIVITY (ADVANCE II)
FY 18 ANNUAL WORKPLAN
1
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND VALUE CHAIN
ENHANCEMENT FEED THE FUTURE ACTIVITY 
(ADVANCE II) FY 18 ANNUAL WORKPLAN
OCTOBER 1
ST
, 2017 – SEPTEMBER 30TH
, 2018
COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT NUMBER:
AID-641-A-14-00001
AOR USAID:
CHIEF OF PARTY:
DISCLAIMER 
This report is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States 
Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of ACDI/VOCA and 
do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
2
Table of Contents
Acronyms................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 6
1.0 Project Management ............................................................................................ 7
1.1 IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS.................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.2 OFFICE OPERATIONS & STAFFING....................................................................................................................................... 7
1.3 DEVELOPMENT PARTNER COORDINATION ....................................................................................................................... 8
2.0 Implementation Strategy....................................................................................... 9
2.1 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2 TECHNICAL CHALLENGES ................................................................................................................................................... 11
2.3 LESSONS LEARNED FROM PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION.................................................................................................. 11
3.0 Strengthening the Value Chains ..........................................................................18
3.1. SUB-PURPOSE 1: INCREASED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN TARGETED COMMODITIES................................ 18
3.1.1 Increased Adoption of improved productivity-enhancing technologies services and practices ...................................... 18
3.1.2 Strengthen sustainable systems service provision and input distribution .................................................................. 23
3.1.3 Strengthen incentives for smallholder investment .................................................................................................... 27
3.2. SUB-PURPOSE 2: INCREASED MARKET ACCESS AND TRADE IN TARGETED COMMODITIES ................................... 29
3.2.1 Availability and use of affordable/sustainable services increased............................................................................ 30
3.2.2 Capacity of women and men (and firms) to participate in markets improved.......................................................... 30
3.2.3 Increase private sector investment and innovation to support value chain development. ............................................ 31
3.3. SUB-PURPOSE 3: STRENGTHEN CAPACITY FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION ........................... 33
4.0 Program Support.................................................................................................39
4.1 GENDER MAINSTREAMING.................................................................................................................................................... 39
4.1.1 Gender equity training linked to technical support................................................................................................. 40
4.1.2 Child Labor......................................................................................................................................................... 40
4.1.3 Women engaged in increased agricultural productivity............................................................................................ 40
4.1.4 Increase women market access and trade of targeted commodities............................................................................ 42
4.1.5 Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture ............................................................................................................................ 42
4.2 INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TOOL FOR OUTREACH................................................................ 43
4.2.1 Lessons Learned from ICT Interventions.............................................................................................................. 43
4.2.2 Use of ICT tools in 2018..................................................................................................................................... 43
4 3 ENVIRONMENT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 44
4.3.1 General environmental compliance......................................................................................................................... 44
4.3.2 Improving agrochemical management..................................................................................................................... 45
4.3.3 Climate Smart Agriculture................................................................................................................................... 45
4 .4 GRANTS.................................................................................................................................................................................... 46
4.4.1 Innovation and Investment Incentive...................................................................................................................... 46
4.4.2 Local Partnership Grant............................................................................................................................ 46
4.4.3 Impact assessment of the grant program................................................................................................................. 46
5.0 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning ...................................................................48
5.1 MONITORING AND EVALUATION....................................................................................................................................... 48
5.2 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING ............................................................................................................... 51
5.3 EXIT STRATEGY...................................................................................................................................................................... 52
3
4
Acronyms
ACDEP Association of Church-based Development NGOs
ADVANCE Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement
ASWG Agriculture Sector Working Group
BDS Business Development Service 
CAADP Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program
DCA Development Credit Authority
DAIP District Agricultural Investment Plans
EPA Environmental Protection Agency 
FASDEP II Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy II
FBE Farmer Based Enterprise
FBO Farmer Based Organization
FinGAP Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project
FTF Feed the Future 
FMP Field Management Program
GAIP Ghana Agricultural Insurance Program
GAPs Good Agricultural Practices 
GCX Ghana Commodity Exchange
GDA Global Development Alliance
GGC Ghana Grains Council
GIS Geographic Information System 
GIZ German Development Cooperation
GPRTU Ghana Private Road Transporters Union
GRIB Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body
GSA Ghana Standards Authority
Ha Hectare
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFDC International Fertilizer Development Center
IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation
METASIP Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan
MIS Market Information Services
MM Mobile Money
MMDA Metropolitan, Municipality, and District Assembly
MoFA Ministry of Food and Agriculture
MSMA Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise
MT Metric Ton
NF Nucleus Farmer
NGRP Northern Rural Growth Program
OB Outgrower Business
OG Outgrower
PERSUAP Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safe Use Action Plan
PPRSD Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate
QPM Quality Protein Maize
RaFIP Rural and Agricultural Finance Program
RFBO Regional Farmer Based Organizations
SARI Savanna Agricultural Research Institute
5
SASL Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans
SEG Small Equipment Grant
SIL Soybean Innovation Lab
SMFM Sell More for More (market tool for FBOs)
SSP Spraying Service Provider
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VSLA Village Savings and Loans Associations
6
Introduction
The ADVANCE II Project was awarded to ACDI/VOCA on February 5th, 2014 under the 
Cooperative Agreement # Aid-641-A-14-0001, and is scheduled to end on September 30th, 2018. 
The project is a follow-on to the Ghana Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement 
(ADVANCE) project which ended on March 13th, 2014. ADVANCE II is one of the flagship projects 
under the USAID Ghana mission’s Feed the Future (FTF) program.
This 2018 implementation plan was conceptualized, discussed and deliberated by the full 
complement of all ADVANCE staff, as well as senior managers from the implementing partners, 
who met for a week, from 19th to 23rd June 2017 in Sunyani. 
This implementation plan for 2018 touches on all aspects of the project’s three main components 
including agricultural productivity, trade and marketing, and capacity development, and ensuring 
that issues of gender, application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools are 
applied, the environment is not negatively impacted and all of this done to ensure sustainable 
gains. The plan was drawn starting with a thorough analysis of the results from previous years 
and adjusting developing strategies based on the lessons learned. The plan also includes 
strategies for collaborating with other Feed the Future implementing partners to ensure synergies 
and avoid duplication of efforts. 
The plan briefly describes the project approach, how this will be monitored during implementation 
and a conscious effort to document the processes, outputs and immediate outcomes to ensure 
effective learning for adaptive management. Specific activities that will lead to the achievement 
of the broad objectives have been identified for each of the project’s three sub purposes and the 
cross cutting themes (gender, environment, grants, using ICT T tools, and nutrition sensitive 
agriculture) are also presented as well as an elaborate monitoring, evaluation and learning plan.
The 2018 implementation plan has been designed keeping in mind previous results and learning 
experiences, however, in keeping with our adaptive management approach, there may be a need 
to modify some of the strategies as new learning occurs during implementation. Any modifications 
in implementation strategies will not affect the targets but rather enhance their attainment in the 
most efficient manner that ensures sustainability.
7
1.0Project Management
1.1 Implementing Partners
The ADVANCE II project is managed by ACDI/VOCA as the prime contractor with a well-balanced 
and experienced project team, some of who have been retained from the initial ADVANCE project. 
ACDI/VOCA, has three implementing partners: ACDEP, PAB Consult and TechnoServe, all of 
who have extensive experience managing development projects across Ghana. All the partners 
have great experience working in northern Ghana and the technical capabilities to manage the 
project. Together, the implementing partners have a combined total of 148 full time staff working 
on the project and posted to various locations within the intervention zones. 
ACDI/VOCA provides overall management, technical direction, administrative services; reporting 
to USAID; coordination with other donor activities; and oversight of sub-awardees’ activities. 
Coordination among partners ensures maximum benefit of each partner’s technical expertise, and 
is driven by the Chief of Party (COP) through the ADVANCE Management Steering Committee 
comprised of the leadership of the implementing partners. The committee meets quarterly to 
review project progress on results and objectives. The committee also serves as an avenue to 
resolve any contractual issues that may arise, update staff requirements, and assess project 
approaches and activities.
1.2 Office Operations & Staffing 
The project has five office locations. The ACDI/VOCA Country Office in Accra houses the 
ADVANCE Project office where the COP ), and two DCOPs for Operations 
and Quality Assurance (TBD), and Grants ( ), are based. Also, based in Accra is a 
strong monitoring, evaluation and learning (ME&L) team comprising the ME&L Manager ( 
), Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator ), Project Database 
Manager and the Program Specialist for Public Relations/Communications 
). A few other senior staff also operate from Accra including the Director of 
Administration and Finance ( ), Senior Accountant ), Technical 
Leader for Trade and Marketing ( ), Geographic Information Systems 
Specialist ( ). 
The Tamale office is the main hub for project implementation in the North. The DCOP Technical 
( ), directs all technical programs in the field, along with Technical Leaders for 
business services , Policy and Advocacy Specialist ( ), capacity 
development ), ICT Specialist ), environment ( 
, and Grants Specialist ).
Regional teams are led by Regional Coordinators (RC) who are very experienced staff with both 
technical and administrative skills. The regional technical team based in Wa (Upper West Region) 
is led by , the Bolgatanga team (Upper East Region) is headed by 
 and the RC for the Northern Region team in Tamale is . Sunyani 
8
office serves as the coordination point for the maize belt of Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions, 
and covers 25 districts, and the RC ( ) is supported by an M&E Officer, a 
Business Service Officer, and a Marketing Officer. The Kumasi office now only has a Marketing 
Specialist whose focus is on the market catchment areas in the Ashanti Region. Both the Kumasi 
and Sunyani offices are shared with the USDA funded Ghana Poultry Project to promote efficient 
use of resources and proper accounting records are kept to ensure accurate billing for each 
project.
1.3 Development Partner Coordination
ADVANCE will continue to play an active role in collaborating, coordinating and leveraging on the 
other FTF projects namely; Agricultural Technology Transfer (ATT), Financing Ghanaian 
Agriculture Project (FinGAP), Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING), the Agricultural Policy 
Support Project (APSP), the World Bank/USAID Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP), 
as well as the Natural Resource Management Project. The COP will participate actively in the FtF 
COPs’ meetings that are held regularly to coordinate and avoid duplication of activities in our 
respective work plans and grants programs, among others, and ADVANCE will continue to play 
an active role in these coordination efforts in the coming year. 
ADVANCE will also continue to participate in other technical sub-groups from the various Feed 
the Future (FTF) projects that meet regularly. The groups include Public Relations and 
Communication (PR&C), Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), and Grants. The Monitoring, 
Evaluation and Technical Support Services (METSS) project coordinates all the FTF projects’ 
effort on knowledge management and learning (KM&L) and ADVANCE will continue to support 
that effort.
The ADVANCE project management team will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Food 
and Agriculture (MoFA) at the district and regional levels, and collaborate with the Northern Sector 
Agriculture Investment Coordination Unit (NSAICU) under the Savannah Agricultural 
Development Authority (SADA). With the large number of value chain initiatives in the north, there 
is a significant need to ensure consistency across technical assistance programs and for carefully 
measured investments grounded in sound market development practices that put local partners 
and private sector actors at the forefront of planning and implementation. As we have seen, this 
can best be achieved through coordination efforts. This will entail periodic collaborative review 
meetings, joint workshops with key value chain stakeholders in the three target crops, as well as 
the annual preseason and pre-harvest agribusiness fairs.
Another important area that the project will coordinate with MoFA and other projects and 
organizations is the control of the Fall Armyworm (FAW). The Fall Armyworm was identified in 
2016 when they invaded maize farms in northern Ghana, and quickly spread to the south. The 
pest continued to attack maize crops in 2017 and is likely to persist in the country for the next 
couple of years. The project has set up pheromone traps for early detection of the presence of 
the FAW moth, collaborated with MoFA and used the Agricultural Extension Agents to monitor 
and collect data on a weekly basis. This collaboration will continue in 2018 and will include other 
9
organizations like CABI, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) among other. 
2.0Implementation Strategy
2.1 Background
Despite marginal improvements in Ghana’s macroeconomic environment, the country continues 
to face challenges from many years of poor economic performance. Annual inflation rates have
dropped from about 18% in 2016 to 11.9% in July 2017 and forecasted to fall further to 11.6 by 
August 2017. Interest rates however remain high at above 30% per year for banks and up to 50% 
for non-bank financial institutions. Agricultural growth rates dropped from 5.7% in 2013 to 3% in 
2016. Northern Ghana faces greater challenges than most parts of the country with complex 
interrelated economic, health, environmental and educational challenges that have contributed to 
this disparity for the majority of its 4.3 million people (about 17% of total Ghana population). Low 
levels of literacy, poor nutrition, inconsistent weather patterns, geographic isolation from market 
centers, periodic insecurity, inaccessibility of inputs, and a low adoption of modern farming 
practices have contributed to persistent low productivity. Smallholder farmers, especially women 
are even more disadvantaged due to limited access to and control over land and production 
resources, lower education levels, and access to training. Analysis of data collected by the project 
in 2015 showed that only 32% of women in the project’s area of operation had access to any form 
of credit or financial service (input credit, savings and loans, grants, mobile money etc.), and this 
constrains their ability to invest in production inputs and improve their productivity.
In the past five years, Ghana imported on average 480,000 MT of rice, more than 14,000 MT of 
soy products, and almost 15,000 MT of maize. With urban populations and incomes generally on 
the rise, demand for such staple foods is increasing. The economic conditions, although
challenging, presents some opportunities for the North, where the economy relies heavily on the 
production of these key staple food crops. The Ghanaian government and development partners, 
as well as the private sector, are continuing to explore and invest in commercial agriculture 
initiatives in northern Ghana to unearth the agricultural potential.
10
The ADVANCE II project’s theory of change posits that there are three functions of value chain 
competitiveness—agricultural productivity, market access and trade, and an enabling 
environment—which are catalyzed by three enablers of competitiveness - clear incentives for 
investment, strong local 
capacity and mutually 
beneficial relationships (see 
Figure 1). Underpinning the 
theory is that private sector 
actors, including men and 
women farmers (both large 
and smallholders), are the 
drivers of competitiveness, 
while the government and 
local stakeholders are 
facilitators, who can be 
supported through ADVANCE 
II investment in capacity 
building and promotion of 
innovation. 
The 2018 implementation plan is designed to expose targeted male and female farmers to new 
commercial opportunities. access long term markets, while strengthening existing supply chain
relationships with businesses investing in the value chain, improved access to market information, 
improved access to services and products including financing, high-quality inputs, new 
technologies, mechanization services, and improved ability to meet market quality requirements. 
The result will be increased productivity and profitability for both large and smallholder farmers. 
The central approach is to focus on end-market opportunities that provide compelling incentives 
for businesses throughout the value chain to invest in the chain, including upgrading their own 
performance. For example, competition from imported rice should drive investment in Ghana’s 
domestic rice value chain by (i) upgrading mills through expanding their capacity and the quality 
of the product; (ii) by traders to develop dedicated smallholder farmer suppliers; (iii) and by 
farmers to improve productivity through the efficient use of quality inputs and improved varieties. 
ADVANCE II’s strategic focus on growing end-markets also attracts investment from businesses 
in supporting markets such as financial institutions, input dealers, and equipment service 
providers who recognize the potential to grow their own businesses by servicing actors in these 
value chains. Ultimately, upgrading the value chains sustainably, will benefit smallholder farmers
by building their capacity and improving their access to markets, information and services. To 
encourage businesses to make these investments, ADVANCE II employs a facilitative approach. 
The project targets lead firms in the value chains and supports markets that are able to impact 
large numbers of smallholders and are willing and able to invest in performance upgrades. 
ADVANCE II ensures that targeted lead firms demonstrate considerable commitment and exert 
ownership of the upgrading process. 
Figure 1: ADVANCE's theory of change
11
2.2 Technical Challenges
The ADVANCE II project targets smallholder farmers through business service providers that 
provide the farmers with either in-kind or cash-up-front services. These providers (processors, 
commercial farmers, aggregators, input dealers) reach large numbers of smallholders and are 
willing and have the cash flow to invest in upgrading the value chain. Of the farmers participating 
in the ADVANCE II project, 99 percent are smallholders with an average farm size of 1.0 ha; and 
each farmer is linked to one or more service providers. The project ensures that women are
targeted for training and to receive productivity enhancing services.
The project’s target smallholder male and female farmer population face many challenges
including poor infrastructure, high cost of borrowing, inadequate access to production inputs, 
machinery, and markets, and therefore the project is implemented with these constraints in mind. 
The technical interventions described in this implementation plan are designed to consolidate the 
gains from ADVANCE I and the first four (4) years of ADVANCE II, and leverage where 
momentum is occurring in new technology adoption, more efficient use of mechanization (using 
rippers), stronger and more sustainable links to end markets, and actors’ willingness to invest in 
the value chain and industry. 
2.3 Lessons learned from project implementation
An important strategy of the ADVANCE project is to use an adaptive management approach,
where the project team consistently assesses the project strategies vis-à-vis the outputs, 
outcomes and impacts, and consequently adjusts the implementation strategies accordingly, 
where necessary, to ensure that the desired long-term results are attained in the most effective 
and efficient manner. 
Recognizing the complexity of increasing productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers the 
project’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system is structured around a data collection and 
analysis cycle that utilizes a knowledge management and learning environment. The cycle
involves a planning, implementation, monitoring, studies and research to learn, and subsequent
re-examination of actions. The process also involves a series of feedback loops that provide the 
project managers and decision-makers with information on the outcomes of their choices, results 
of past management decisions and on present conditions. Our learning agenda integrates with 
the project’s standard indicator monitoring and effectiveness evaluation methodologies.
Feedback and dialogue among beneficiaries is a central component and learning reviews are 
scheduled to ensure that everyone can continuously examine results and learn from the project’s 
experiences.
One of ADVANCE’s key intermediate goals is to improve smallholders’ productivity. The project 
works to achieve this by working through Outgrower Businesses (OBs). ADVANCE has been 
implementing the OB model since 2011 as one of its key intervention models to build and 
strengthen a system that will sustainably and significantly increase the agricultural productivity of 
the project’s smallholder beneficiaries and enhance their access to market.
12
In line with the project’s adaptive management policy, knowledge management and learning 
(KM&L) constitutes an important part principle of managing the project. Therefore, the first step 
in our planning process is to reflect and assess the reach, depth, and elements of the OB model 
that should ensure its sustainability. For that purpose, the project team analyzed survey data, 
routine monitoring data, as well as case studies. Some data was also collected through the annual 
gross margin surveys, in-depth interviews of smallholders and outgrower businesses, as well as 
profiling and other data reported by beneficiaries as their experiences with the project. The 
findings, which are summarized in the rest of this section, has informed the strategies that will be 
adopted in the coming year.
Reach of the OB service provision to the OGs
Presently, the project works with 370 Outgrower Business (OBs), 32 of them are owned and led 
by women. In 2016, on average, an OB was linked to 271 outgrowers (47% women) and directly 
supported about half of them with plowing services and production inputs on credit. Other support 
includes post-harvest handling, training, marketing, and transportation service. The most common 
service provided was plowing, followed by training (extension), then fertilizer and seed credit. The 
least common ones were shelling and threshing, harrowing, transportation, and warehousing.
The data showed that the provision of service by OBs was significantly influenced by gender 
(p<0.05). Male maize farmers had 27 percent higher probability of being provided tractor services 
by an OB than their female counterpart. This percentage increased to 34 percent for the male rice 
farmers compared with the female ones, while it was 16 percent, for the male soy farmers. The 
plowing service, the most common service, is billed at 100kg per acre plowed, irrespective of 
crop. The preference for plowing for the men can be explained by the higher potential profit from 
serving them as they have larger farms and the tractors can be utilized on a contiguous piece of 
land rather than driving it to several small fields.
Service provision is also influenced by crop (p<0.0001). Rice and soy farmers had 15 and 35 
percent higher chance of being supported by an OB compared to the maize ones. The price per 
unit weight of soy and rice are higher than that for maize. The prices for soy, rice and maize per 
100kg are at $32.7, $34.2, and $23.2 respectively in 2016. Therefore, as the plowing fee does 
not change for the different crops, plowing a rice field is generally more profitable than plowing a 
maize farm.
Depth of OB service provision
One of the OB model’s assumptions is that the higher the depth of service provision (i.e. the 
number of services provided to a farmer), the more their productivity will increase, and we have 
observed this to be true. Among those who received services, 72 percent of the women farmers 
and 69 percent of the men received only one service. About 18 percent of both gender received 
two services and between 8 and 9 percent of them received three services. 
13
Table 1: Percentage of farmers by number of services received and by gender
Number of 
services
Female Male
1 71.83% 69.41%
2 17.61% 18.44%
3 7.75% 8.94%
4 2.46% 3.77%
5 1.06% 0.84%
8 0.35% 0.00%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00%
This trend of low depth was consistent across crops and gender (Table 2). However, a higher 
proportion of maize farmers received two or more services than the rice and soy ones. The exact 
reason for this is not known and we will follow up to understand this better.
Table 2: Percentage of farmers by number of services received by crop
The low depth is also illustrated by the average number of services per farmer at 1.47, varying 
from 1.3 for female soy farmers to 1.67 for female maize farmers (Table 3). 
Table 3: Average number of services per farmer by crop and by gender
Crop Female Male Grand Total
Maize 1.67 1.58 1.59
Rice 1.48 1.30 1.38
Soy 1.23 1.30 1.27
Grand Total 1.44 1.48 1.47
Quality of services
Although the OBs did not provide many services, but when they did, the quality was recognized 
by the smallholders. Most the farmers rated the services provided by their OBs as excellent or 
good, whether they were male of female (Table 4). However, more maize farmers than the rice 
and soy ones rated the OB services as being of average quality (Table 5).
Table 4: Percentage of farmers by reported rating of OB’s service quality and gender
Service quality Female Male
Excellent 10.56% 12.22%
Good 82.04% 79.07%
Average 8.10% 8.99%
Bad 0.00% 0.00%
Very bad 0.00% 0.28%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00%
Number of 
services
Maize Rice Soy
1 63.46% 76.50% 79.45%
2 20.32% 13.50% 17.39%
3 11.59% 7.50% 2.37%
4 4.81% 2.00% 1.19%
5 0.89% 1.00% 0.79%
8 0.00% 0.50% 0.00%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
14
Table 5: Percentage of farmers by reported rating of OB’s service quality and crop
Service 
quality
Maize Rice Soy
Excellent 13.98% 10.55% 8.70%
Good 75.45% 83.42% 84.98%
Average 10.39% 6.53% 6.72%
Bad 0% 0% 0%
Very bad 0.36% 0.00% 0.00%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Payment for services
About 80 percent of the Outgrowers (OGs) reported having fully paid for the services they 
received. More female rice farmers reportedly paid compared with their male counterpart. 
Table 6: Percentage of farmers who reportedly fully paid the services by gender and crop
Crop Female Male
Maize 76.11% 80.98%
Rice 84.72% 72.22%
Soy 78.57% 81.10%
Grand Total 78.96% 79.95%
Direct impact of the OB model on smallholders’ productivity
The data shows that the smallholders who received services from their OBs had significantly 
higher probabilities of applying technologies that would increase their yields. For example, 
benefitting from OB services almost doubled the probability of maize and rice farmers, as well as 
female soy farmers to use certified seeds compared to those who did not receive services from 
OBs (Table 7). 
Table 7: Percentage increase in the use of certified seeds by gender and crop
Crop Female Male
Maize 86% 95%
Rice 102% 91%
Soy 94% 37%
Female maize farmers had a 24 percent higher chance of applying fertilizers when they received 
services from OBs. This figure went up to 28 percent for the male maize farmers. However, the 
provision of services by the OBs did not seem to have a significant impact on the adoption of row 
planting for the maize and soy farmers, nor for the male rice farmers, as row planting doesn’t 
involve much costs. On the contrary, female rice farmers had 103% chance of applying row 
planting when they were supported by their OBs, likely because they initially lacked the necessary 
knowledge without the extension services from the OBs. 
Similarly, OB services did not influence the application of fertilizers for rice and soy, probably due 
to the Government’s fertilizer subsidy program and the lack of knowledge on the necessity of 
fertilizers for these crops. 
15
Thus, benefitting from OBs’ support increased the yield of female and male rice farmers by 23 
percent and 52 percent respectively, and increased the female and male soy farmers by 54 
percent and 38 percent respectively. 
Signs of sustainability
In addition to the findings presented in the above sections, the project has observed signs of the 
sustainability for the OB model such as the increasing demand for OB services, the OB 
profitability, and the expansion of services by other actors, which are also key elements of the 
value chains.
a. Increasing demand for services
The OBs are facing increasing demand from the smallholders. Annually, the number of 
smallholders connected to each OB increased by 27% (Figure 2). 
Figure 2: Average number of smallholders per OB
High demand for improved production inputs and services, including mechanized land 
preparation, and up-front financing among others. There is room to increase the application of 
improved technologies among the project beneficiaries as only 42 percent of the FY16 
beneficiaries used certified seeds, and 56 percent used fertilizers. 
Despite the two to three-fold increase in yields and gross margins across the three crops 
compared to the baseline figures, the farmers’ productivity (at 3.33 MT/ha for maize, 2.9 MT/ha 
for rice, and 2.28 MT/ha for soy) remains lower than the potential yields. Also, the post-harvest 
management of the produce needs to be improved. As many as 48 percent of the rice and soy 
farmers are not using threshers and mentioned that they could not find any, while 41 percent 
reported they could not afford any. These two issues can be addressed if OBs can expand their 
provision of such service. 
To meet the demand, many of the OBs have significantly expanded their services. Between 2014 
and 2016, on average, tractor plowing services grew at 44 percent annually, input credit provision 
at 28 percent annually, and threshing service provision at 31 percent annually. 
From our surveys, the OBs intend to expand even further as 80 percent of them planned to 
increase tractor services in 2017, 68 percent planned to increase input credit and 84 percent 
would increase threshing service provision. However, they reported facing challenges hindering 
their expansion capacity. The top three barriers cited included:
166
220
271
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2014 2015 2016
16
• Lack of finance (mentioned by 75 percent of OBs surveyed) 
• Logistics and transport (45 percent) 
• Outgrower loyalty (42 percent)
• Weather volatility (42 percent)
• Getting the best price (28 percent)
• Finding ways to grow business (20 percent)
Nevertheless, a certain level of retention of smallholders as customers by the OBs was noticed. 
Around 89 percent of the OBs reported that "all" or "most" of the farmers they served in 2015 were 
also served by them in 2016. As many as 92 percent of OBs reported that "all" or "most" of the 
farmers they supported in 2016 would continue receiving support in 2017. This finding indicates 
that the OB model has a good chance of being a sustainable model and the project will work to 
strengthen it further in the coming year.
b. Profitability of the OB
From the service provision alone (without accounting for the sales of the produce a OB sourced 
from the outgrowers he or she supported), an OB gains over $1,200 per season. Moreover, OBs’ 
annual revenues increased by 13 percent generally. 
The outgrower business as promoted by the project, is a new and growing business model. The 
project has noticed an increasing number of businesses interested in becoming an OB or making 
their existing OB more organized, strengthened and professional. In 2016, the project had 125 of 
such businesses being mentored by 25 experienced OBs, while in 2015, 10 OBs mentored 78 of 
their new peers. The number of OBs working with the project shot up from 156 in 2014 to 370 in 
2017. About 86 percent of them have formally registered their business. 
The number of end buyers involved in the outgrower scheme increased from one in 2014 to 11 in 
2016, illustrating its economic interest and profitability. The end buyers invested over $4.6 million 
to finance seeds and fertilizers for the smallholder farmers through the OB scheme. 
c. Expansion of other actors’ businesses
Per USAID ADS 201 Program Cycle Operational Policy, “sustainable development efforts should 
strengthen local systems inclusive of key local actors, to support their collective ability to produce 
results over time.” The project therefore pays close attention to all the other business actors 
operating in the maize, rice and soybean value chains to ensure that the system functions 
efficiently.
The other value chain actors are also key to the success, growth, and sustainability of the OB 
model and need to grow as the model reaches more people. Agro-inputs dealerships are growing 
and increasing the availability of improved inputs to smallholders, especially in remote areas. 
Yara, one of the largest international input firms which partnered with the project, reported an 
increase of about 5% of their revenues in 2016 compared with the 2015. Heritage Seeds, a much 
smaller seed dealer reported significant increase in sales (from 69MT to 98MT of certified seeds) 
from 2015 to 2016. 
17
Another strategy used by the project to increase farmers’ access to inputs through the OB model 
is community input promotions. Hadiola Agrochemical, one of the input dealers engaged during 
some of these events reported that their turnover increased almost fivefold, from $10,870 to 
$51,764 in 2016.
Agrochemical spraying service provision has taken off as well, providing valuable services 
smallholder farmers as well as off-farm incomes for the sprayers. In 2016, 171 young men were 
trained as spraying service providers and they generated a revenue of $23,517. In addition to 
providing the young men an income, it also enabled more farmers to access safer and more 
efficient spraying services.
Furthermore, transport services are becoming more accessible after the project facilitated talks 
between the Ghana Private Road Transport Union on one hand, with OBs and buyers on the 
other, and the latter now benefit from discounted fares.
Other actors such as ICT service providers (e.g. Esoko, Voto Mobile etc.), financial institutions, 
radio stations among others, have seen an expansion of their businesses or at least more 
diversification of their products to suit the farmers and OBs’ needs. 
Applying the learning from these studies 
Based on the above findings, the project will support the OBs to increase their reach and depth 
of their service provision to improve their impact. Examples of interventions will include:
• Sensitizing OBs further on the other potentially profitable and impactful services and 
strengthen their business management skills and tools
• Training the OBs and supporting them to keep and interpret records to enable them better 
assess, plan, and strategize on the type and number of farmers they should serve, and the 
types of services they should provide
• Promoting and facilitating the expansion of the end buyers’ outgrower scheme to increase 
the availability of up front financing at the level of the OBs and the farmers
• Continuing gender sensitization activities with the OBs, the farmers, the communities at large 
and making the business case for working with women and supporting them grow their 
businesses.
• Continue supporting farmers to secure other sources of funding and knowledge that will 
reduce the pressure and the dependency on the OBs (through VSLA, extension services, 
etc.)
• Continuing the support to women to access land and financial resources
18
3.0Strengthening the Value Chains
The overall goal of the ADVANCE Project involves scaling up private sector investment and 
involvement in the maize, rice and soybean value chains to achieve greater food security, while 
increasing competitiveness in these respective commodity value chains.
The project is organized into three sub-purposes including:
i) increased productivity in targeted commodities;
ii) increased market access and trade; and 
iii) strengthened local capacity.
The project also has crosscutting areas including gender, environment, nutrition sensitive 
agriculture, and a strong monitoring, evaluation, and learning, component. Detailed activity plans 
and tracking progress are presented in Annex 1Error! Reference source not found. while the i
ndicator targets are presented in Annex 2.
3.1. Sub-Purpose 1: Increased Agricultural Productivity in 
Targeted Commodities
Objective 1: Adoption of improved productivity-enhancing technologies, services and practices 
by women and men farmers increased.
Objective 2: Sustainable [business] systems for financial, advisory, aggregation and on-farm, 
post-harvest service provision and input distribution strengthened.
Objective 3: Incentives for smallholder investment in new productivity enhancing technologies, 
services and practices strengthened.
3.1.1 Increased Adoption of improved productivity-enhancing technologies services and 
practices 
Field Management Program
The Outgrower Business (OB) model is the project’s main intervention strategy. From what we 
know through our learning studies, outgrowers (OGs) who received services from their OBs had 
significantly higher probabilities of applying technologies that increased their yields. Also, over 
90% of smallholder farmers who received services from the OBs rated the quality of the services 
as good or excellent. However, the number of services provided by OBs per each smallholder 
farmer was on average only 1.5, which we consider low, therefore, the project will adopt strategies 
to improve on this in the coming year.
The Field Management Program (FMP), which is part of the sustainability strategy for OBs, aims 
at improving OBs’ management capacity to reach out effectively to their outgrowers with more 
services. To achieve this, the project is encouraging OBs to invest in a field manager who will be 
19
trained, and where necessary, the project will provide mobility (tricycle or motorbikes) through in￾kind grants to facilitate movement to the various communities. Project management anticipates 
that investing in a field manager would improve the timeliness of inputs support to the OGs, 
effective supervision and technical assistance to the OGs, and subsequently improve repayment 
rates. The FMP have been incorporated in the business plans developed with and for OBs and is 
part of the Outgrower Business Management (OBM) curriculum for training OBs. The project will 
review the curriculum and introduce additional modules to address new challenges faced by OBs. 
One such addition will be a module on staff management and retention, and labor protections (fair 
wage, benefits, legal requirements, hiring etc). The project will identify and collaborate with an 
appropriate agricultural training institution to train the field managers and certify them.
We observe that there is a significant gap in OBs recruiting women as field managers. We have 
observed that the few female lead farmers are doing a great job in facilitating linkages between 
OGs and the OBs in terms of services provision. The project will therefore encourage OBs to hire 
more women as field managers and empower them through training to improve their technical 
expertise.
Illustrative activities that will be undertaken to ensure a successful filed management program 
include the following:
▪ Organize capacity building training for engaged filed managers to enable them perform the 
role effectively and efficiently
▪ Facilitate delivery of technical Services through field managers. Services would include 
extension delivery, management of tractor and other mechanization services, input 
distribution to OGs, post-harvest advice, GAP/PHH training, manage demonstration sites, 
aggregation of produce at harvest, community liaison, and provide mentorship to 
community lead farmers 
▪ Organize review sessions with field managers to assess and share experiences on 
progress with implementing the field management programs, challenges, and successes
▪ Support the field managers by coaching to use ICT tools (using the smartex application 
developed by the Grameen Foundation) to train farmers on good agronomic practices as 
well as help their OBs in managing their business.
▪ The project will use in-kind grants to catalyze innovative behavior, including support for the 
field management services and to buy down some of the startup costs. This will be limited 
to providing motorcycle or “motor-king” to aid in mobility required for the job.
▪ Together with John Deere, the project intends to send one OB and one staff member to 
visit and study a mechanization center model being practiced in Nigeria, which has proven 
successful. The team will be expected to return and share what we can replicable here in 
Ghana, with a special target towards OBs. We believe this has potential to make the OB 
model more profitable and sustainable.
Actor-led technology demonstration sites.
Demonstration sites have been and continue to be the best platform to train farmers on Good 
Agricultural Practices (GAPs) including effective control of the Fall armyworm (FAW), and Post￾Harvest Handling (PHH) to improve productivity. Five trainings are provided at the demo sites 
20
during each crop season and the time for trainings is fixed to ensure it is convenient for the women 
to participate effectively. The project collaborates with private agro-input companies and OBs to 
establish the demonstration sites. The strategy to ensure that this learning platform is sustained 
beyond the life of the project is to encourage OBs to take the lead role to sponsor demos in the 
communities where they operate. 
Some new communities will be selected for 2018 demo sites however, most demonstrations will 
be established in communities previously touched, to increase adoption and utilization of 
technological packages. The project will encourage private sector entities to sponsor inputs for 
selected demo sites out of the 483 demos, but the OBs will continue provide land, land 
preparation, and other inputs to supplement the sponsorship to be provided by the input 
companies. The project will support the OBs to take a lead role in sourcing sponsorship and 
establishing the demonstration sites in 2018 to ensure sustainability for continued agricultural 
extension to the smallholders after the project closes.
The project will organize meetings between the OBs and the various input companies who have 
provided seeds, fertilizer and herbicides for setting up the demonstrations over the year to agree 
on some level of cost share between the OBs and the input companies. This kind of agreement 
will provide better comfort that using demonstrations sites as platforms for training smallholder 
farmers will not discontinue when the project ends. This will also ensure that the appropriate 
inputs which have proven to improve crop yields are used at the demonstration sites. 
We are confident that the input companies will welcome the collaboration with OBs post 
ADVANCE II, having realized increases in sales through their sponsorship of the demonstration 
sites because it provides them a market.
Demonstration sites will be selected strategically to ensure easy access (close to communities) 
to female farmers, and based on productivity maps for each of the crops. The maps show the 
best locations for production for each crop. In the case where factors like low pH persist, lime will 
be applied to the soil though donations by the private sector input suppliers present in the north. 
The following specific tasks will be performed at each demonstration site:
▪ Training for GAPs and PHH will be held at all sites (and selected farms) with private sector 
firms, OBs and MOFA AEAs where possible.
▪ Demo sites will be monitored and data recorded regularly
▪ Establish 15 model farms to showcase ripping for land preparations and other mechanized 
practices at commercial level 
▪ Disseminate GAPs information through SMS/Voice messaging service providers, call 
centers, and other media especially radio and radio listener groups. Sensitize radio 
listenership groups to tune in to agricultural programs on radio.
▪ Facilitate direct linkages between listenership groups and operating radio stations which 
broadcast in various communities to create lasting relationships and ensure continuous flow 
of agricultural information to farmers.
▪ Encourage partner agribusinesses to sponsor agricultural programs on radio and link the 
programs to the trainings conducted at the demonstration sites. The project recognizes that 
21
female smallholders have low access to mobile phones, disempowering them from accessing 
information from various ICT platforms. The project will work with the telecom providers to 
identify cheap priced phones with adequate features to receive messages.
Climate Smart Agriculture. 
Since 2014, ADVANCE has been implementing a Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) strategy to 
mitigate the impacts of the erratic rainfall patterns. In 2015 and 2016, the project made immense 
progress in disseminating CSA techniques, including providing in-kind grants for rippers (land 
preparation with minimum disturbance made to soil). In 2017 land preparation using the rippers 
was up scaled to the level of OBs, who also supported their OGs. 
The implementation of the model farm concept in collaboration with John Deere and its local 
distributor AFGRI Ghana enabled the project to showcase the benefits of mechanization and 
especially ripping on large commercial scale. 
Some specific activities to be undertaken include the following:
▪ Conduct new minimum tillage demonstrations and maintain previous ones 
▪ Promote expansion of the area under minimum tillage by facilitating ripping for interested 
OBs and OGs
▪ Organize a no-burn policy campaign in all regions in collaboration with the District 
Assemblies and MoFA
▪ Contract with relevant service providers to provide weather forecasting through SMS and 
other ICT tools. 
Management of pest disease outbreaks
New agronomic challenges are encountered each season, some of which there is no precedent. 
A case in point is the Fall Armyworm (FAW) invasion that affected maize crops in 2016 and 2017 
and is likely to persist in the country for the next couple of years, per experts observation. It is 
therefore important to establish a system where farmers can consult an expert when they 
encounter new pests, diseases or other challenges. 
Fall Armyworm Control 
The outbreak of fall armyworm in Ghana was first noticed in mid-2016 and the incidence worsened 
in the 2017 crop season. To help farmers deal with this new pest in Ghana, the project has already 
undertaken several activities and will continue in the coming year. They include:
1. A monitoring system involving the use of pheromone traps and standard field scouting to 
gather information for immediate advice to farmers and for long term planning
2. Education and creating awareness, including training of agricultural extension professionals 
and farmers, radio campaigns, distribution of posters to farmers and their communities, and 
3. Pesticide observations to determine the best options and times of application.
4. Pest and Disease management in collaboration with CABI
To detect the presence of the pest in a timely manner, 27 Heliothis traps were mounted with fall 
armyworm and African armyworm lures to monitor prevalence of fall armyworm as well as African 
armyworm moths. This monitoring system constitutes an early warning system to alert farmers to 
scout their farms for signs of the pest and take appropriate actions when moths are detected in 
22
the traps. Agric Extension Agents from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture are monitoring and 
collecting data from the pheromone traps on a weekly basis. They also scout the farms on which 
the pheromone traps are located using a standard scouting protocol for signs of FAW, including 
damage on leaf window panes, holes and infested whorls. The proportion of these signs on the 
farm informs the actions that are recommended to the farmers within that locality. In 2018, this 
monitoring system will be expanded to cover the entire country in collaboration with CABI and 
MoFA-PPRSD. The information generated will be shared with stakeholders for broader action. 
The specific steps will include the following:
▪ Procure traps and enough pheromones for one year’s monitoring
▪ Train AEAs and other Agricultural Extension Professionals on how to set up trap, field 
scouting and data collection (these professionals will monitor the remaining regions of the 
south not covered up to now)
▪ Develop weekly and monthly maps to show trends of prevalence
▪ Share data with National Armyworm Task Force - formalize relations and ensure visibility
▪ Disseminate information on the pest-publishing/CABI
▪ Collaborate closely with PPRSD/SARI to ensure sustainability
▪ Analyze pesticide residue levels on maize grains - in collaboration with Nestle
▪ Expand monitoring to cover the whole country
Education and awareness of the Fall Armyworm
In 2017, the project trained over 180 Agricultural Extension Professionals. In collaboration with 
MoFA, the project also trained OBs and OGs, and started radio campaigns and voice messaging 
to farmers on FAW control. The project also printed and distributed 37,000 posters in farming 
communities in northern Ghana. In 2018, these activities will continue to be implemented and will 
be expanded to include a video production and broadcasts to farmers. A conscious effort will be 
made to target women farmers for the training to enure they are disadvantaged in any way. 
Some specific tasks that will be undertaken include the following:
▪ Collaborate with CABI on video production and dissemination
▪ Radio education through jingles and Live Presenter Mentions
▪ Include FAW in GAPs trainings
▪ Special training for OBs and OGs involved in outgrower schemes
▪ Include FAW awareness in all trainings and meetings - using posters and videos
Establish Pesticide Observation Sites 
Ghana has little experience with FAW control because the pest is new to the country. There are 
presently no standard prescriptions to FAW control. There is a risk for insect resistance, overdose 
of insecticides and ineffective control options and methods. To overcome these risks, the project 
set up an observation field using some active ingredients recommended by MoFA and listed in 
the PERSUAP for FAW control to determine the effective dosage, effective spray time, and the 
maize growth stages that are critical for effective control of the FAW. The project will set up 
additional observation fields in Kintampo using PERSUAP compliant products in 2018. Data from 
the observation plots will be analyzed and used to develop pesticide prescriptions for farmers.
23
Pest and Disease management in collaboration with CABI
Since 2016, the project has adopted the idea of ‘plant clinics’ in its work plan to support farmers 
with disease control in a structured way. This idea will be expanded to include the training and 
certification of plant doctors to support farmers in disease and pest management. The Centre for 
Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) is an international not-for-profit organization 
which works closely with MoFA-PPRSD on matters related to invasive species. It has a curriculum 
and material to train and certify ‘Plant Doctors’, who are agricultural professionals trained to 
manage pests and diseases. With the support of MoFA-PPRSD, they have established a network 
of Plant Doctors in the southern part of Ghana who conduct periodic plant clinics to help farmers 
solve new problems faced on their farms. In collaboration with CABI, Field Agents who support 
the work of OBs with extension services to outgrowers will be trained and certified as plant 
doctors. The work of the plant doctors will be coordinated by Regional Plant Protection Officers 
of MoFA. 
The specific strategies to achieve this will include:
▪ Training field agents to become Plant Doctors
▪ Training selected Project Staff to become Plant Doctors
▪ Establishing coordination units in Upper East and Upper West Regions
▪ Promote activities of plant doctors using publicity materials such as banners etc.
▪ Link plant doctors to PPRSD for technical support
▪ Facilitate cluster meetings of plant doctors
▪ Involve plant doctors in radio discussions
▪ Organize plant clinics using Plant Doctors
▪ Link the work to be done by plant doctors to the spraying service providers to target women 
farmers
3.1.2 Strengthen sustainable systems service provision and input distribution
Digital Financial Services
The ADVANCE II project promotes adoption of Digital Financial Services (DFS) to improve 
efficiency in carrying out business. Presently, 65 OBs and input dealers have been signed up as 
mobile money merchants linked to 5,207 subscribers. The mobile money platform has enabled 
OBs who aggregate produce from their OGs to make payments to them without the risk of carrying 
cash from their banks in the town centers to the villages while serving as a savings platform for 
the OGs thereby making them financially included. Input dealers who have signed up have also 
expanded their business and improved smallholders’ access to inputs by establishing community 
agents at the communities/villages without their physical presence. The agents take orders from 
farmers and sends it to the retailer in the city; the items are delivered by the nearest and earliest 
means of transport, and payment is made using the mobile money platform.
These actors, beyond making transactions through mobile-money to pay their OGs, also have the 
option of becoming merchants or mobile money agents in the communities where they live. In 
24
2018, the project will work with mobile money service providers and encourage them to visit more 
rural areas to set up the system there. Some specific activities to be undertaken include:
▪ Link Actors to Mobile Money Service providers (MTN, VODAFONE, TIGO, AIRTEL) 
to register as Merchants-and incorporate e-wallet into their operations
▪ Register/Setup Actors including the smallholders as merchants or subscribers
▪ Encourage value chain Actors to incorporate DFS into their operations
▪ Work with the telecom companies to provide basic cheap phones to women 
smallholder farmers to enable them access the DFS
Business Planning and Management Practices
In 2016, the project started classifying OBs based on their performance, using a categorization 
tool developed for the purpose. The tool rates the OBs by various business characteristics, and 
their scores determines the type of business support they will receive from the project. Outgrower 
businesses with a three star (medium performing) and four star (high performing) will be 
supported to develop four year-strategic plans aimed at consolidating gains they have made so 
far, and planning for the next growth stage of their business. Those in other categories will be 
provided specific services based on their needs. Specific tasks to be undertaken include
▪ Administer a business diagnostics tool to OBs prior to their planning process to 
identify significant strengths and weaknesses of their operations
▪ Guide OBs to implement plans that have been developed with them and support 
them to adjust as their circumstances change over time.
▪ Develop Medium Term Strategic Plans (4 years) for OBs identified as well￾established and having entrepreneurship skills.
The OBs that are rated 1 and 2 stars will enter the mentorship program, a peer learning program 
for low performing OBs to be mentored by high performing colleagues.
Outgrowers will also be supported with business development services during GAPs trainings 
offered by the production team. The aim of this is to show the OGs how much impact the adoption 
of any of the technologies they are trained can make on their productivity, yield and income. 
Facilitate OB Networking. 
ADVANCE II facilitated the establishment of the first OB networks in 2015 to ensure impact and 
sustainability of the project’s OB concept/model. The main objective is to foster linkages among 
OBs to learn “best practices” for managing their outgrower businesses, advocate for common 
interests and create economies of scale for bulk purchases and sales, when the opportunity 
arises. The project will continue to encourage and facilitate the formation of new networks, and
strengthen the existing ones. The OB networks will be trained and sensitized to mainstream the 
project’s gender strategy in their programs to ensure gender equity.
Some specific activities to be undertaken include:
▪ Following up on the 10 most active networks to facilitate their planning and help determine 
their common goals
▪ Identify their strengths and weaknesses to enable the project provide appropriate support
25
▪ Guide the existing networks to implement their advocacy activities
▪ Encourage OBs who do not yet belong to any OB network to join one
Outgrower Business Management
The OB model has proven successful and will be strengthened further in the coming year to make 
the OBs more robust. The eight-module outgrower business management training will continue 
with emphasis on good business planning for profit, understanding value chain dynamics, the 
roles played by all the actors in the value chain, the vulnerabilities/risks they are exposed to and 
the measures they need to take to mitigate against any risks, as well as adopting strategies to 
compete profitably. The project will also Assist OBs to put in place effective records keeping 
systems to ensure that OBs take sound business decisions.
Topics for training will be identified and implemented on a demand basis from the list below:
o Value chain concepts and how to compete profitably
o Business and Financial planning
o Outgrower Management
o Demonstration farm Management
o Tractor Operation and Maintenance
o Post-Harvest Handling
o Contracts, Marketing and Negotiation
o Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership
Another area of the OBs’ operations that the project will pay attention to in the coming year is the 
utilization and management of their assets. The OBs own assets like tractors, shellers and 
threshers which they use on their own farms and to provide mechanized services for their OGs’. 
These assets are usually costly and mostly paid for with borrowed funds. Often, the OBs are 
unable to fully utilize these assets efficiently to generate enough income to pay back their loans 
on time. The project has developed an asset utilization analysis tool to help OBs ascertain, for 
instance, how many acres a tractor must plow to breakeven or how much it costs to shell a bag 
of maize so they can develop strategies to utilize these assets fully. The project will train OBs to 
use the asset utilization tool for their mechanization equipment to illustrate to them the number of 
OGs and acreage they must cover to become, or remain profitable.
Outgrower Businesses’ Office Program. 
Keeping proper business records remains a challenge for some OBs. The project introduced OBs 
to keeping proper and accurate records for their business on computers. On a pilot basis, the 
project provided 56 OBs with laptop computers through in-kind grants and were trained on how 
to use them with a sales tracker software installed. The software was to enable them manage 
their OGs, track sales and credit, and store and share their records as required. This however did 
not yield the desired results as most of the OBs could not afford to pay for the services of a 
computer literate assistant to support them. Thus, the concept was revised and emphasis placed 
on supporting OBs to keep proper records manually based on templates developed on excel 
sheets with a proper filing system.
26
The project will continue to support the OBs to set up proper office systems where all transactions 
are recorded and filed, and accounting systems put in place, so that these records can be 
interpreted to make sound business decisions, and be verifiable and auditable. The project will 
provide one-on one support to individual OBs. The project will also continue to use interns from 
Universities to support OBs and their managers implement new office systems and procedures, 
especially regarding record keeping.
Improved Access to Financial Services
Access to finance is a major hurdle for project beneficiaries and Ghanaian businesses in general. 
The OBs invest mainly in acquiring capital asset (tractors and shellers) and farm inputs for 
production. A large proportion of these investments are financed through bank loans with 
prohibitive interest rates and this sometimes limits their capacity to expand and grow their 
businesses.
Despite this challenge, improved access to finance is key to the adoption of new technologies 
that will improve productivity, crop yields and incomes, especially among women OGs whose land 
sizes are relatively small. The project has therefore adopted a five–pronged approach to improve 
access to finance by;
▪ Encouraging OGs’ to make savings to invest in production inputs
▪ Scaling up the VSLA concept (200 more groups to reach another 5000 OGs in the coming 
year)
▪ Promoting agricultural finance through tripartite arrangements involving buyers and 
Financial Institutions (FIs)
▪ Linking OBs to FIs based on investment gaps
Encouraging more digitized payments on the mobile money platform especially between 
OBs who aggregate produce for sale to end market and their OGs.
▪ Increasing the uptake of crop insurance in the face of erratic rainfall and pest invasion 
(example is the FAW) especially for those who will access credit to purchase production 
inputs.
▪ Organizing in-community input promotions, taking advantage of VSLA share outs
Upscale of Village Savings and Loans Associations
In 2015 access to credit for production was a challenge as FIs were not willing to lend and where 
they did, the interest rates were prohibitive, sometimes up to 4% per month. Therefore, OGs 
especially were encouraged to save some of their income to invest in production inputs for their 
farms. The Village Savings and Loans (VSLA) concept was therefore introduced to some 4,890 
beneficiaries (214 groups) in the three regions of the north. For the first year, the savings accrued 
was GHS 394,598, (about $92,000), 20% of which was spent on inputs for production. 
The concept proved very popular in 2016 and an additional 500 groups reaching 12,425 (3,835 
males,8490 Females) beneficiaries. As at June 2017, 826 VSLA groups have been formed and 
monitoring of 571 showed that they had saved GHS 1,063,847.5 ($247,8710. The volume of 
27
savings has been tremendous and while only about 20% has gone into production it is still 
encouraging as OGs are themselves surprised at how much they are capable of saving. The OGs 
saving for their own production will reduce their dependency on the OBs for input credit and afford 
the OB the opportunity to expand their business while improving the relationships between the 
two partners. 
In 2017, the 826 groups will be encouraged to continue savings and 200 new groups will be 
formed targeting mostly women to save towards adopting new technologies especially the use of 
quality seed.
Input Dealer Business Development Program 
With the project’s interventions, input companies are extending their services into rural 
communities which enables smallholder farmers access, especially in remote areas. Yara, one of 
the largest and international input firms which partnered with the project, Heritage Seeds, a much 
smaller input dealer and Hadiola Agrochemical, one of the input dealers engaged by the project 
have all reported increases in their revenues.
The project will adopt a strategy to improve farmer access to inputs by supporting input companies 
to expand their services and improve their management practices. The focus in 2018 will be to 
link more Community Agents to Input Retailers/Wholesalers to bring inputs to isolated 
communities where access to inputs is constrained and costly. The agents will be encouraged to 
use mobile money transaction to reduce risks. Where necessary, the project will support input 
dealers to develop business plans and build their business management capacity to enable them 
expand their services. The project will facilitate a wider distribution of certified seeds and 
agrochemicals through improved linkages between dealers and community agents and out￾grower business, FBOs and OGs.
Some specific activities to be undertaken include: -
▪ Strengthening relationships between existing agents and input dealers, while reinforcing 
that the business made by these community agents will be on the mobile money platform.
▪ Strengthening the capacity existing Spraying Service Providers (SSPs) to access spraying 
equipment and protective gear 
▪ Facilitating linkages between MoFA, existing Input Agents and Input Dealers.
▪ Holding sensitization fora for SSPs, Community Input Agents, Input dealers, OBs and 
farmers.
▪ Facilitate linkages between Local input dealers, OBs and SSPs
▪ Organize training to build the capacity of project staff to dispel the wrong notions of hybrids 
being GMOs
3.1.3 Strengthen incentives for smallholder investment 
Pre-Season Agri-Business Forum 
This preseason event is co-managed by ADVANCE II, ATT, and other programs/institutions and 
is focused on pre-planting priorities including inputs, equipment, technology, finance, messaging 
28
services among others. The project will invite all OBs and viable FBOs to participate in the event. 
specific tasks that will be undertaken include the following:
▪ Facilitate participation of OBs and viable FBOs, especially headed or dominated ones
▪ Facilitate participation of input companies, financial institutions, equipment and other 
services providers
▪ Conduct after-event evaluation with actors (OBs and FBOs) to assess the relevance and 
document deals that were brokered. 
Farmer Mentor Program
The mentorship program was introduced in 2015, and has proved to be a persuasive “seeing is 
believing” methodology for new OBs and for those averse to expanding their business due to risk 
factors. A more structured methodology has been followed since 2016, in which the mentors are 
trained, to have the biggest impact of the mentoring sessions. The project will make every effort 
to identify female mentors to support women’s groups and potential female OBs, especially in 
areas where for cultural reasons men and women do not easily interact. Specific tasks that will 
be undertaken in 2018 include the following:
▪ Identify well-established OBs and invite them to mentor new ones, on the benefits, risks 
and how to mitigate those risks. 
▪ Train the mentors on "Effective Mentoring".
▪ Identify and establish the capacity gaps of prospective mentees (new and old), and 
appropriately align them the right mentors for training.
▪ Organize groups of prospective OBs with specific capacity gaps to visit well established 
OBs for first-hand experience in what a multi-service operation looks like.
▪ Organize visits to HYBRID MAIZE sites (especially on ADVANCE Model Farms) to see 
and appreciate the merits of using quality hybrid seed for promote adoption
▪ Organize visits to CSA model farms to learn application of the best farm practices and 
their benefits
Crop Insurance 
Crop insurance is relatively new in Ghana and there are no established firms providing such 
services. Since 2014, the ADVANCE II project has collaborated with the Ghana Agricultural 
Insurance Pool (GAIP) to implement a crop insurance scheme that mitigates some of the risks 
farmers face. The project expects that reducing risks will provide incentives for farmers to invest 
in productivity enhancing inputs on their farms. One of the main challenges GAIP faces in reaching 
out to farmers with crop insurance is the number of staff they have and the geographic area they 
must cover. T overcome the challenge with coverage, ADVANCE II supported GAIP to train 35 
VSLA agents to act as sales persons to educate and sell crop insurance to farmers in communities 
in the Northern Region on a pilot basis. This was to improve on GAIP’s visibility and accessibility 
in the communities. Though sales made by these agents in the current crop season is low, more 
farmers have been sensitized on the need to mitigate against drought by purchasing crop 
insurance. The Bonzali Rural Bank and Opportunity International Savings and Loans company 
(OISL) were also engaged to take policies to cover the production loans they made out during the 
29
season. To make it more affordable and attractive, GAIP has also reduced the premium, which is 
based on production cost, from 10% to 5% for drought insurance and 3% for multi-peril insurance.
In the coming year, the project will sensitize OBs and buyers who invest in outgrower schemes to 
include insurance in the production package provided to their selected OGs. Specific activities 
will include the following:
▪ Increase the number of Village Agents and train them as sales persons to sensitize various 
Actors in the value chains to purchase crop insurance to mitigate against drought
▪ Partner with radio stations to host programs that educate farmers on the benefits of crop 
insurance
▪ GAIP to acquire a toll-free number that farmers can call in to access information on crop 
insurance and pay for their policies on the mobile money platform.
3.2. Sub-Purpose 2: Increased Market Access and Trade in Targeted Commodities 
The ADVANCE project’s strategy for increasing access to markets and trade is guided by the 
three enablers of competitiveness described in the theory of change. The project will continue to 
identify end market opportunities for lead firms, OBs, FBOs, and other value chain actors, and 
build their capacity to also identify and respond to these opportunities.
There are three objectives under this sub-purpose, as follows:
Objective 1: Availability and use of affordable/sustainable services increased.
Objective 2: Capacity of women and men (and firms) to participate in markets improved.
Objective 3: Private sector investment and innovation to support value chain development
increased.
The focus of the trade and marketing component in this final year of implementation is to assist 
buyers and OBs to strengthen the business relationships that have been developed to date, and 
sustain them after the end of the project. The project will continue to provide technical assistance 
to market lead firms to address specific business challenges, particularly relating to supply chain 
development, finance, marketing, quality management and food safety. In addition, the project 
will continue the initiative to support the growth of small and medium (SME) agro processors who 
have, or will receive processing upgrade grants. 
The support to selected trade associations like the Ghana Grains Council (GGC), Ghana Rice 
Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) and Borderless Alliance, to deliver services to their members and 
value chain actors, as well as undertake advocacy on enabling environment constraints will be 
assessed and continued for those that show great potential going forward. The project will develop 
and promote structured trade in open markets which began in 2017, with a focus on key maize 
markets in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions. The project will also assist maize traders’
associations in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions to undertake advocacy campaigns, 
especially with district assemblies, on improving the infrastructure in markets. 
30
3.2.1 Availability and use of affordable/sustainable services increased.
The project will continue to support GGC, GRIB, Borderless Alliance, and maize traders’ 
associations in key markets in the south. The support to these groups will be done with a focus 
on ensuring that they continue providing services and engaging in advocacy activities that 
improve the enabling environment for business. 
The open-informal market represents a major sales distribution channel for grains produced by 
farmers. In June 2017 ADVANCE designed an activity to promote structured trade, particularly 
the use of weights and measures in the open markets. The activity will be carried out with the 
maize traders’ associations in key markets particularly Techiman, Wenchi, Badu, Ejura, 
Odumase, Nkoranza, Atebubu and Kintampo.
The project will consider a proposal to support the annual Rice Festival organized by GRIB. This 
event has gradually established itself as an important forum for the promotion of local rice brands. 
GRIB will also be supported to implement their advocacy activities
In 2017, ADVANCE received a grant application from GRIB to establish a Rice Business Center 
(RBC) in Navrongo in the Upper East Region to sell inputs and provide mechanization services 
to farmers. The RBC responds to a key need of GRIB’s members who are farmers. It is also an 
income generating activity for GRIB. Since this activity has a high chance of impacting on the 
livelihood of smallholder farmers, the project will ensure that if approved, it will target at least 60% 
women farmers and women groups and this will be monitored closely to ensure adherence. 
The project will continue to work with Borderless Alliance on its advocacy programs to reduce 
barriers to cross border trade in West Africa. In 2017 ADVANCE actively participated in meetings 
of the Ghana Chapter of Botherless Alliance to establish advocacy priorities which included goods 
clearance / import procedure at ports, road checkpoints, and border crossings. As in previous 
years, staff of ADVANCE will participate in the annual conference of Borderless Alliance to be 
held in 2018 in a West African country. 
3.2.2 Capacity of women and men (and firms) to participate in markets improved.
Our market linkages activity has generated some key lessons. First, trade missions involving 
buyers visiting and interacting with farmers in their communities and on farms, has enhanced 
buyers understanding of the key constraints to farmer productivity particularly low access to 
finance and good quality inputs. The project believes reciprocal visits by farmers to buyers will in 
turn improve farmers understanding of the supply chain needs of buyers, and their quality 
demands. Secondly, buyers and farmers with established relationships are undertaking trade 
missions and negotiating contracts on their own without further support from the project. Thirdly, 
the training provided to smallholders on quality standards for maize and soybean has led to 
improvement in the quality of produce supplied by farmers as evidenced by the few complaints 
about poor quality produce received from buyers in 2017 compared to 2016. Fourth, our 
collaboration with Nestle Ghana on assisting three nucleus farmers and their smallholders reduce 
mycotoxins in maize has made significant progress as shown by laboratory tests results shared 
31
by Nestle. This collaboration indicates that where a buyer offers a premium price, farmers become 
incentivized to apply the requisite knowledge in production and post-harvest handling and incur 
additional costs to produce high grade produce. 
The overall focus of developing market linkages is to find reliable markets for farmers and get 
them to develop sustainable business relationships with buyers. This is done through the 
following:
▪ Two-way trade missions. The emphasis in this last year of implementation is to facilitate 
reciprocal visits by farmers to the buyers to enable the OBs to familiarize themselves with 
the buyer’s location and operations, and obtain a first-hand assessment of quality 
requirements with a vision of sustainable relations.
▪ Pre-Harvest Agri-Business Conference and Exhibition. With the focus on sustainability, 
ADVANCE will explore using an event organizer to assist with planning and organizing the 
2017 event. The project recognizes that in the absence of projects, there will be the need 
to raise adequate funds through sponsorship to underwrite the costs of the pre-harvest 
event, and therefore the event organizer will be charged with raising funds through 
sponsorship to make event self-financing in future. 
▪ Contract facilitation. Our work on contract facilitation will be minimal where the parties have 
well established trading relationship. However, the complexity of outgrower contracts, 
where the buyer provides input credit to the OB in exchange for produce at harvest time, 
requires heavy facilitation from ADVANCE for the parties to arrive at mutually acceptable 
terms. The project will continue to facilitate new business relationships to establish and 
conclude contracts in the coming year. 
▪ Training of OGs in Produce Quality Requirements. The project will continue the training on 
quality standards for soybean and maize. In addition, ADVANCE will begin, for the first 
time, to train farmers on paddy rice standards (GS 1122:2016). In addition, the project will 
continue its ongoing collaboration with Nestle Ghana Ltd to assist three nucleus farmers 
and their smallholder farmers in the Northern Region produce high quality maize to meet 
the company’s quality requirements. 
▪ Quarterly market intelligence reports. The preparation and dissemination of the quarterly 
report analyzing market trends in the maize, rice and soybean sectors at the global, West 
Africa and national level will be continued. 
3.2.3 Increase private sector investment and innovation to support value chain development.
Buyers have learned that the best way to secure adequate supplies of produce, at competitive 
and stable prices is to develop outgrower schemes where they provide farmers with input credit 
in exchange for produce at harvest time. For these schemes to be sustainable, it is important for 
buyers to spend time from the beginning in direct face to face engagement with farmers on 
contract discussions, farmer mobilization and farmer field monitoring, rather than depending on 
the project’s facilitation. Buyers also build trust with farmers when they openly share information 
and discuss the cost components of their input and services support, and produce recovery rates
that will sustain the relationship. This enables farmers to weigh the cost and benefits of 
participating in a buyer sponsored outgrower scheme vis-à-vis other options for financing 
production. 
32
Market Lead Firm Competitiveness
The market lead firms, which are mainly processors and poultry farms, are concentrated in the 
Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions. The Trade and Marketing Specialist based in the Kumasi field 
office will continue to play a key role to provide technical assistance to these buyers.
In this last year of implementation, the project will not seek new buyers per se but will focus 
attention on the existing ones for supply chain development. The project will support buyer 
outgrower schemes where the buyers will pre-finance cost of production inputs for the farmers 
and obtain produce at harvest as repayment. In 2017, ADVANCE with a view towards 
sustainability, encouraged buyers with a substantial number of outgrowers, and accompanying 
financial investment, to hire or assign dedicated staff to oversee these schemes. This will continue 
in 2018 and the project will train the officers hired or assigned by the buyers. We have learned 
from previous years that women are generally more likely to repay for services from their OBs 
hence we will sensitize the Buyer’s field officers to target more women.
ADVANCE will also support at least two Outgrower schemes with the salary of six months of one 
of the field officers hired, to demonstrate to the buyer the benefits of such investments. Other 
activities will include the following:
▪ ADVANCE will organize meetings between the buyers and their outgrowers to discuss 
strategies and actions to ensure sustainability when the project ends.
▪ Facilitate access to finance for Buyers with financing needs for capital investments and 
working capital for both debt and equity capital. ADVANCE will collaborate with FINGAP to 
conclude such financing where necessary.
▪ The project will provide needs based technical assistance in the areas of product 
development, marketing, quality improvement, financial and operations management. Where 
necessary, will engage consultants to complement ADVANCE staff to deliver these services.
▪ Grant applications that were either concluded at the end of 2017 or are under consideration 
will be carried forward into 2018 for procurement. The targeted items include plant upgrades 
and some laboratory equipment for processors.
Upgrade North Ghana Processing Capacity 
The rationale for this activity is to support processing and value addition in northern Ghana, and 
thereby expand the economic base. Accordingly, as in previous years, the focus is to provide 
technical assistance and where necessary, grants for processing upgrades to small and medium 
agro processors. 
Rice processing is one of the major economic activities undertaken by women farmers in northern 
Ghana. The first step in processing is to parboil the paddy to minimize breakage during milling. 
The process of parboiling rice is tedious and time consuming. Therefore, to help reduce the 
drudgery with this economic activity, ADVANCE has spent considerable time trying to identify 
suitable vessels and stoves that significantly reduces the time taken and fuel consumed to parboil 
paddy rice. Having identified suitable vessels, the project intends to promote their use. In 2017, 
in-kind grant applications were received and are being evaluated. Selected women’s groups and 
33
small scale processors will be supported in the coming year with these cost-share in-kind grants 
to improve their processing operations. 
Many agro processors have expressed the need for various business development services, 
especially technical assistance for product development and diversification, marketing, quality 
improvement, financial and operations management. The project intends to engage consultants 
and volunteers to address these business issues in the coming year. 
Strengthen Community-based market systems 
To increase market participation and influence by smallholders, ADVANCE will continue to build 
the capacity to FBOs to take advantage of identified market opportunities through collective 
purchases and marketing, post-harvest handling and storage. The project will work to increase 
the capacity of farmer Based Enterprises (FBEs) and FBOs to market produce collectively through 
affiliated nucleus farmers, OBs, and aggregators connected to large institutional buyers, or 
directly to processors. To achieve this, the project will assess the impact of the ‘Sell More for 
More’ (SMFM) training given to beneficiaries in previous years, and if necessary run refreshers to 
focus on gaps identified through the assessment. The project will also train FBOs on SMFM for 
those that have the potential to become FBEs and help them transform as quickly as practicable. 
The project will also mentor and coach beneficiary FBOs on good administrative and management 
practices, facilitate learning visits among potential FBEs to learn and share experience. 
3.3.Sub-Purpose 3: Strengthen Capacity for Advocacy and 
Activity Implementation
There are two major objectives that will be pursued under this sub purpose. They are the following:
Objective 1: Strengthen advocacy capacity of value chain actors and their respective 
associations to address identified value chain-specific enabling environment 
constraints particular to the north; and
Objective 2: Strengthen local institutions to implement inclusive value chain development.
3.3.1 Strengthen advocacy capacity to address enabling environment constraints 
Through policy fora organized in previous years, policy and advocacy issues such as limited 
access to productive lands for women, indiscriminate bush burning and other negative 
environmental practices, inappropriate handling and disposal of agrochemical containers, limited 
access to government subsidized fertilizer due to smuggling across borders, inadequate support 
for agricultural extension by (Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), limited 
access to quality seeds, inadequate farm machinery and skilled operators, among others, were 
identified. Based on these issues, NORTHCODE, a local NGO, was selected through a 
competitive process from a list of other NGOs that submitted advocacy grants proposals for 
support. NORTHCODE is therefore implementing an advocacy action aimed at influencing 
traditional authorities in 16 selected communities in Mion, West Mamprusi, West Gonja and 
34
Sawla/Tuna/Kalba Districts to set aside 1600 acres of productive lands for the creation of land 
banks for the sole use of women. To ensure maximum and productive use of the reserved land,
NORTHCODE as part of the project will rigorously engage with private and public sector input 
dealers to make the necessary inputs available to the targeted 1000 women who will use the
reserved land banks. 
The project will address indiscriminate bush fires and other negative environmental practices 
using a community-based targeted approach. Therefore, four Community Resource Management 
Areas (CREMAs) were identified and recruited to provide consultancy services to influence their 
respective District Assemblies to pass, gazette and support the enforcement of their CREMA bye 
laws to curb bushfires. 
A review of advocacy proposals submitted under our first call for proposals revealed that many of 
the NGOs that submitted proposals lacked adequate skills and knowledge in writing advocacy 
proposals and budgeting. The Request for Proposal Template was also too demanding leading 
to the submission of poor quality proposals as only one (1) proposal (NORTHCODE) out of twelve 
(12) met the criteria for support. Also, Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCAT) and 
Advocacy Capacity Assessment (ACAT) conducted in the past showed a low capacity for financial 
and grants management for local NGOs. Some of the NGOs also lacked a good understanding 
of the USAID grants making processes, as well as the regulations. To address the budgeting, 
financial and grants management capacity gaps of NGOs, Chito Padilla, Vice President of Global 
Support and Award Management of ACDI VOCA organized training on Fundamentals of Grants 
Management and Procurement for 10 local NGOs. We anticipate that the training will result in an 
improvement in the quality of proposals and NGOs selected to undertake any assignment in 2018 
will do so effectively and efficiently. 
In 2018, the project will identify and address specific enabling environment constraints in the rice, 
soy beans and maize value chains by supporting local NGOs, Farmer Based Organizations, OBs 
Networks, and Trade Associations to undertake advocacy actions. It will also seek to enhance 
the advocacy and managerial capacity of Farmer Based Organizations, OBs Networks and other 
value chain actors to initiate advocacy actions, and finally, build the capacity of MMDAs to develop 
District Agriculture Investment Profiles to promote and attract agricultural investments to their 
districts. 
Identifying and addressing specific enabling environment constraints.
The existence of an appropriate enabling business environment is critical for accelerated growth 
of businesses, especially agribusinesses. In view of enabling environment constraints in the rice, 
maize and soy beans value chains, ADVANCE to support innovative advocacy initiatives that 
influence policies, programs and practices towards improvements in the business environment 
for agriculture growth especial in the project areas of operation. Where appropriate, the project 
will use various types of grants to fund advocacy actions that address specific advocacy issues 
that are considered critical for agribusiness development. Specifically, the following tasks will be 
carried out:
▪ Award grants to selected Local NGOs that demonstrate innovativeness in initiating 
35
advocacy actions that address specific advocacy issues constraining development of the 
rice, soybeans and maize value chains. Grant applications that were received in 2017 and 
are under evaluation, will be completed and grants made to implement various advocacy 
actions with sound reasoning. 
▪ Monitor and evaluate the results and outcomes of the advocacy actions to be undertaken 
by selected local NGOs. 
▪ Train and support grantees to develop long term advocacy strategies to address specific 
agribusiness enabling constraints. 
▪ Support the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) societies in Kunlog, Chakali 
Sumaalu, Builsa Yenning and Moagduri Wuntamluri Kouwomsaasi to engage the district 
assemblies to pass and gazette CREMA by-laws to check bush fires. To ensure the success 
of this advocacy action, ADVANCE will monitor the progress of activities and provide 
technical backstopping where necessary. 
▪ Support trade associations to undertake advocacy actions to address trade specific 
advocacy issues. 
▪ Support at least one (1) FBOs Network to undertake an identified advocacy action on a 
specific identified issue
▪ Collaborate with MMDAs to address the conflicts between cattle herdsmen and crop 
producers, which affects productivity
Build capacity of OBs and FBOs on policy and advocacy 
Farmer Based Organizations and OBs’ networks are critical for sustaining the gains made by the 
ADVANCE project in improving the agribusiness environment. Significant progress was made in 
the previous years to form zonal level OB networks across the three northern regions, and in
some cases, regional level FBO Networks. Fourteen Zonal OB Networks were formed in the three 
northern Regions, two district level FBO networks in Kintampo North and South and one regional 
level FBO network in Upper West Region. 
In 2018, the project will strengthen the internal structures of the OBs and FBO Networks that have 
been formed, supporting them to develop advocacy strategies on identified advocacy issues for 
policy advocacy establishing linkages with duty bearers (MoFA, District Assemblies and other 
government agencies) for policy advocacy. The project will also strengthen them to adopt 
collective purchases and sales of agricultural inputs and produce; train them on the concepts and 
practices of advocacy and the functions of District Assembly structures and sub-structures; 
agriculture policy education; development of action plans; and formation of additional FBO
networks. Specific tasks to be undertaken include:
▪ Train leaders of the FBO networks on basic advocacy skills, local governance systems and 
policy processes at the local level
▪ Coach the leaders and members of the OB networks to strengthen their internal governance
structures
▪ Continue supporting Zonal OB networks to identify specific advocacy issues and develop 
advocacy plans to address them
▪ Train identified Trade Associations on the concepts and practices of effective advocacy
36
▪ Organize Regional level OBs and FBOs Fora to interface with Metropolitan, Municipality, and 
District Assemblies (MMDAs), MoFA and other Duty bearers such as the Environmental 
Protection Agency
▪ Support OB and FBO networks create awareness among themselves and their communities 
to promote women’s access to productive farm land 
Support the Development and promotion of District Agricultural Investment Plans (DAIP)
In 2015, the project supported two District Assemblies to develop District Agricultural Investment 
Plans (DAIPs), which they exhibited at the 2015 pre–harvest event organized by ADVANCE. 
Important lessons learned from the pilot process provided guidance on how ADVANCE will 
engage with other MMDAs to develop and promote their own district agriculture investment 
profiles. In 2018, ADVANCE will facilitate four (4) regional level trainings for selected technical 
staff of MMDAs on how to develop and promote DAIPs to attract agricultural investments in their 
districts. Consultants with expertise and experience in facilitating the development and promotion 
of DAIPs will be contracted to train and support staff from interested MMDAs. Subsequently, 
MMDAs who are willing to commit resources to the development and promotion of the DAIPs will 
be supported by ADVANCE, in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Council 
(GIPC) and investment consultants to develop and promote the DAIPs. The project will facilitate 
the promotion of DAIPs through exhibitions and linkages to Ghana Investment Promotion Council 
and monitor the outcomes and lessons from their agribusiness investment promotion activities.
3.3.2 Strengthen Local institutions to implement inclusive value chain development
The second objective of the third Component of the project has two parts. They are 
(i) To build capacities of Local Institutions and FBOs, and therefore, activities have been 
designed for the targeted local institutions and FBOs.
(ii) The second part of this objective is focused on FBOs, and as such, some of the activities 
have been previously mentioned under sub-purposes one and two. 
The project aims to transform non-commercial farmer based FBOs into farmer based enterprises 
(FBEs). The FBOs will be classified into two distinct groups: (1) Those that are informal community 
groups linked/affiliated to an outgrower business which are assisted to become more formal FBEs 
with the aim of distributing inputs or aggregate produce through the OB structure, with their 
members also being counted as OB beneficiaries. (2) Those FBOs that are independent of an 
OB, or those that wish to become independent, and strive to deliver commercial services to their 
members with the ultimate objective of becoming a registered FBE (which would act like an OB).
Build capacity of local organizations
In 2017, the project conducted Organizational Capacity Assessment using the OCAT tool and 
shortlisted 12 local institutions for capacity building in proposal writing. A one-day training was 
organized for them and, eight of the institutions have presented various proposals in advocacy
activities. One of the institutions (NORTHCODE) has been awarded a grant to carry out an 
advocacy on access of farm lands for women, which is on-going. Apart from this, four have been 
shortlisted and are being considered for award of grants to implement specific activities.
37
The project will strengthen FBO networks through mentoring, coaching, sensitization and training 
on group dynamics, record keeping, project monitoring among others to build their capacity 
building to source and manage funding from both ADVANCE, District Assemblies and other donor 
organizations to implement activities.
Capacity development for program implementation. 
In previous years, the project has trained thousands of beneficiaries in Farming as a Business 
(FaaB). In 2018, the project will train another 8,500 project beneficiaries in this subject area, 
targeting project beneficiaries who have not benefited from this training. The impact assessment 
conducted on beneficiaries of FaaB showed that beneficiaries could recall training issues 
captured in the pictorial chart than in the training manual. The pictorial chart would be reviewed 
and contemporary issues that affect farming would be incorporated to enhance the in-depth 
understanding of beneficiaries. Contemporary issues such as Fall Army Worm, ripping verses 
ploughing, VSLA as a means of saving to fund agriculture and enhance productivity.
The project will also continue training beneficiaries, mostly women, to acquire numeracy skills.
The women are mostly targeted due to their vulnerability when it comes to marketing agriculture 
produce, especially scales are used and most rural women cannot read or recognize numbers. 
The numeracy curricula would be reviewed to reflect current needs of smallholder farmers. The 
review would incorporate identification of dates and reading weights on scales to enable tothem
keep proper records. In all, the project will train 11,000 beneficiaries in numeracy skills in 2018. 
Capacity development for FBEs 
The project works with two main types of farmers’ organizations. We have farmer groups that are 
linked to OBs and as well as independent groups that are not linked to an OB. Almost all these 
FBOs operate as noncommercial oriented groups but rather their members operate more on 
individual bases than in groups. To enhance the performance of these groups, the project 
embarked on transforming them into business entities known as Farmer Based Enterprises 
(FBEs). This should promote collectiveness in their agriculture activities. FBEs would be more 
profit-oriented than FBOs and are more proactive in doing business. They can market more 
volumes of produce and attract end buyers or processors to engage them in businesses when 
they manage appreciable volumes of produce. The FBEs mostly engage in collective sales of 
their produce, collective purchase of inputs, serve as collateral for agriculture financing for 
members, render collective mechanization services to members and many other activities that 
are not common with FBOs.
In 2016, the project conducted an assessment on existing FBOs in the project area and identified 
various gaps that hinder the transformation of the FBOs into FBEs. These include low or no 
records keeping culture, inadequate or no funding, non-registration of groups with the appropriate 
institutions or agencies, low yields due to low adoption of productivity enhancing inputs and 
practices among other shortfalls. The project selected 45 FBOs out of the 100 identified, assessed 
and categorized them into 4 categories namely:
38
(i) Formative Stage; 
(ii) Early Transition; 
(iii) Mid-transition and 
(iv) FBE model, to be piloted in the transformation derive. 
The project coached, mentored, sensitized, trained and organized exposure visits in 2016 to the 
factories of various produce buyers. To date, 30 of the FBOs have been transformed into model 
FBEs, whilst 15 are in mid-transition.
In 2017, a new batch of 90 FBOs were identified, assessed and categorized as above. The project 
is building the capacity of these FBOs in the areas of group dynamics, record keeping, leadership 
training, and financial management to enhance their performance. 
The program will continue to visit, mentor and coach these potential FBEs to provide basic 
services such as plowing or mechanization services, financial services, input credit for members, 
collective purchasing of inputs, and collective marketing among others. A quarterly assessment 
is conducted on these selected FBOs and so far they are showing signs of progression into model 
FBEs. Per our assessment, 94 FBOs in all are in the model FBE category. The project will engage 
the services of a consultant to assess and evaluate the FBEs to identify those that have 
completely been transformed and those that are at various stages of transformation. As part of 
the project’s exit strategy, the project will train the FBEs using the OBM curriculum to be enable 
prepare business plans and sustainability plans for their groups. The project will also continue to 
facilitate linkages between the FBEs and various service providers such as financial institutions, 
input dealers, buyers among others. 
The project will train 405 FBE leaders from 135 FBEs (3 leaders per an FBE) on sustainability, 
group dynamics and other thematic areas that will be identified as relevant to their growth and 
development. Peer learning is key to the sustenance of FBEs since they are not all at the same 
level. The project will encourage and promote learning visits among FBEs and potential FBEs to 
mentor each other and promote healthy competition. 
39
4.0Program Support
The project has a program support component that ensures that the three commodity value chains 
are developed in a holistic manner. This cross-cutting component includes gender, environment, 
public relations, integration of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) tools, and 
grants that support innovative activities across the value chains. The cross-cutting activities are 
implemented seamlessly as an integral part of all project activities, ensuring that project 
beneficiaries are reached in an equitable, effective and efficient manner. This section is therefore 
presented for the sole purpose of explaining the strategies the project adopts in implementing the 
cross-cutting issues and should therefore not be seen as standalone activities.
4.1 Gender Mainstreaming
The project has over the years, integrated gender in all its activities with a vision to create 
equitable and sustainable opportunities for women and men along the target value chains. We 
have undertaken studies to understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ we can promote women 
empowerment-based activities. We have learned through a gender study in 2016, that the low 
participation of women as OBs is due to cultural norms, as women in the project areas tend to be 
risk averse, lack technical skills to manage outgrower businesses, and lack the resources 
required. However, we have also realized that despite the challenges, when given the right 
support in an enabling environment, they are willing and capable of running successful outgrower 
businesses. Since 2015, the project has undertaken various learning exercises to understand 
women’s level of empowerment in the project zones, using the WEAI as a measure to inform and 
guide us on areas to focus on. WEAI data, along with ADVANCE studies, inform the direction and 
strategies that the project adopts going forward. 
ADVANCE II will continue to mainstream gender equity across all project sub-purposes, following 
appropriate approaches for the various zones and in specific communities, where targeted 
activities and resources will be deployed towards bridging the gaps between women and men. 
The project will build public and private sector awareness and capacity through advocacy, 
strengthen networks of individuals and organizations promoting gender parity by providing grants 
for their activities, and target investments in areas that will ensure that women benefit as much 
as men from project activities. Where necessary, the project will adopt relevant affirmative actions 
to ensure equity among all project beneficiaries irrespective of their gender. 
The project staffing structure and programming has been designed to ensure gender integration 
across all activities. The Gender Specialist oversees the mainstreaming of gender throughout the 
life of the project and facilitates gender-equity and women’s empowerment training for all 
ADVANCE II staff to ensure that all activities are designed and implemented so that female 
smallholder farmers are able to access information, skills, equipment and finance to improve their 
livelihoods. The Gender Specialist has access to ACDI/VOCA’s gender community of practice 
and consults with colleagues, uses materials from similar programs and builds on lessons 
learned. The ACDI/VOCA Senior Director of Gender and Social Inclusion provides frequent 
40
backstopping from the head office to the AVANCE II Gender Specialist to ensure he stays up to 
date on current gender issues. 
4.1.1 Gender equity training linked to technical support
In ADVANCE II, it is everyone’s responsibility to integrate gender-equity thinking in all activities.
All staff members are aware of (1) how gender influences their own assumptions and actions, (2) 
why gender awareness and integration is important to the project, and (3) how they can and 
should integrate gender into their daily work. All project staff will receive a refresher training in 
2018, along with any new staff, to ensure that everyone adopts a gender sensitive approach. 
Some of these trainings will be integrated into other staff trainings, workshops, or team meetings 
to reinforce the importance of unbiased gender equity in their work. The project will coordinate 
with government, donor and civil society organizations carrying out gender-related activities in the 
field to avoid duplication, expand outreach and share success stories and lessons learned. 
The ADVANCE II gender and M&E staff will continue to gather and analyze data to assess 
progress and to identify gender issues that arise during the year. The information from the data 
analyzed will contribute to designing and implementing timely strategies to address the identified 
gender issues or gender barriers. This ongoing analysis will also serve to identify new activities 
to expand women’s empowerment and participation in the value chain, such as increasing the 
number of female OBs and women-run businesses, and promote women’s leadership in value 
chain governance. Based on lessons learned from last year, the project will build the capacity of 
female lead farmers of OBs, and promote the concept of the associate nuclear farmers through 
training on OBM, mentorship visits, and encourage them to participate actively in the 
OB/FBOs/FBE networks.
4.1.2 Child Labor
The value-chain beneficiaries of the USAID-funded ADVANCE II program in Northern Ghana are 
smallholder farmers, nucleus farmers, aggregators, processors, input dealers and financial 
institutions. ADVANCE works closely with farmers, businessmen and women to ensure that they 
upgrade and invest in their agribusiness operations to improve crop productivity and processing, 
increase purchases and sales through market linkages, and ultimately improve household 
incomes. By doing so, the project supports these families to earn incomes that enable them to 
invest in their children’s primary and secondary education for both boys and girls. Since 2016 the 
project has implemented activities that alert beneficiaries to the safe use, storage and disposal of 
hazardous agro-chemicals, and the correct use of agricultural equipment to ensure children’s 
safety on the farm or business, and safe spraying practices by adult men. 
The project discourages the involvement of children as ‘farm-hands’ and the application of 
agrochemicals by women due to the hazards involved. The project also encourages and promotes 
women’s engagement in alternative livelihood activities that will increase their income and keep 
their children in school.
4.1.3 Women engaged in increased agricultural productivity
For every activity (training, grant, etc.), women will be encouraged to participate actively. The 
project will support women who show interest in becoming OBs or lead farmers by training them 
41
to acquire leadership and entrepreneurship skills required to manage Outgrower networks and 
link them to formal structured markets. 
Other major activities the project will implement are summarized below:
▪ Encourage women OBs and female lead farmers to host environmentally friendly 
technology demonstrations to expose farmers to the benefits of adopting GAPs using a 
‘learning-by-doing’ methodology. All OBs are encouraged to set up demo sites so their 
OGs can learn good practices that will increase their productivity and can repay their in￾kind loans
▪ Promote the use of women friendly equipment (manual planters, dibblers, shellers, 
threshers, tarpaulins etc.) to reduce drudgery and the time they spend on the farm
▪ Link women farmers and women groups to OBs to access technologies, enhanced 
services and training. This includes tractor services, agro-input, planters, post-harvest 
mechanization, GAP/PHH training etc.
▪ Organize hands-on training for women farmers and actors (OBs, FBOs, FBEs, Lead 
farmers) to enable them use labor saving implements to enhance productivity.
▪ Mount campaigns against women pesticide application and encourage them to access 
commercial service providers.
▪ Having learned from our studies that there is a positive correlation between women trained 
on numeracy and project outcomes, the project will continue to organize numeracy training 
for women in 2018. 
▪ The project will continue to build the capacity of women farmers by training them on 
improved technologies in general, and value addition, as well as in Farming as Business 
(FaaB). 
▪ Support women to invest in their livelihood by encouraging village savings and loan groups 
for women and men, and link these groups to agro-input companies and market 
opportunities.
▪ Raise awareness on land rights. Since 2015, this activity has led to over a 1000 women 
accessing lands that they otherwise would not have accessed, therefore this activity will 
be continued in 2018. The project will continue to raise awareness regarding the 
importance of land ownership/larger land size for women through campaigns; organizing 
informal meetings in villages or clusters; promoting success stories to demonstrate impact 
on the community, and organizing community meetings. 
▪ Facilitate women’s access to land using the existing outgrower structures, as well as the 
traditional authorities. The project has given more impetus to this land program and it will 
be working with NORTHCODE to create land banks for further 800 land resource-poor 
women.
▪ Ensure women have access to information. The promotion of appropriate technologies 
such as the use of mobile devices and women’s listenership clubs to disseminate 
information including weather forecasts, market prices, GAPs, as well as women’s specific 
information needs, will continue and/or be intensified during 2017. 
42
▪ Build the capacity of radio host of agricultural programs in gender mainstreaming: The 
project will continue working with local radio stations to increase female audiences through 
listenership clubs and to be more responsive to their needs. 
4.1.4 Increase women market access and trade of targeted commodities
Women play an active role in the trade of agricultural produce. The project will support the women 
to ensure that they have access to market opportunities that will be identified during the year. The 
project will specifically: 
▪ Build capacity of women to access markets by training them in business, financial and IT 
skills to women's business owners and group members.
▪ Facilitate market linkages between women farmers and women’s groups (e.g., self-help 
groups, village saving and loans groups, women’s producer groups) and put in place 
structures to help them maintain control over their income.
▪ Build women’s leadership capacity by training them in leadership at different levels of the 
value chain (producer/marketing groups, associations, business manager, etc.). 
o Conduct awareness campaigns targeting both men and women on the benefits of having 
women in decision-making positions in cooperatives, associations, or other groups.
o Take women on exposure visits to places where they see their peer women in leadership 
roles to raise their aspirations and confidence.
o Create opportunities for women to speak in public at events such as conferences and fairs 
or around International Women’s Day or other such days
4.1.5 Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture
Since the inception of the project, some activities, including the promotion of quality protein maize 
and soybeans have been incorporated to improve nutrition at the farmers’ household level. This 
activity was intensified in 2017 and will be scaled-up in 2018 to improve the nutrition of women, 
children and the household in general. The nutrition-related activities will include the promotion of 
household consumption of soybean, through sensitization and training to identify strategies that 
can be incorporated in the project’s value chains to promote improved nutrition for the smallholder 
beneficiaries. 
Some specific tasks to be undertaken include: 
▪ Promote the production of high yielding protein maize varieties by women farmers through 
demonstrations and in community promotions 
▪ Promote production of soybean as farm family protein source
▪ Facilitate training in soybean utilization for various kinds of meals by women farmers 
▪ Integrate household food budgeting into the VSLA groups to promote improvement in 
household nutrition 
▪ Train male and female farmers on techniques to 
▪ Continue to collaborate with other projects and MoFA’s Women in Agriculture Development 
Directorate (WIAD) to build capacity of women FBO groups, female OBs, and women 
farmers on soy and cereal nutrition formulation that benefits both children and adults alike; 
and 
▪ Link women's groups to ICT firms (Esoko, Voto Mobile, Radio stations) for dissemination of 
43
nutrition messages on soy, rice and maize formulations. 
4.2 Information, Communication Technology Tool for Outreach 
Developments with Information, Communication Technology (ICT) has not only changed the way 
the world works and communicates but has contributed significantly in the dissemination of 
information. The ADVANCE II project has adopted various ICT tools to communicate messages 
effectively and efficiently to beneficiaries over the years. The project will continue to use ICT tools 
in all program areas to improve communication and the efficiency in attaining project objectives.
Over 1000 Farmer Listenership Groups have been trained and linked to Partner Radio Stations 
across the project’s operational zones and receive farming information through agriculture 
programs on Radio. Additionally, Anti-bushfire and FAW campaign have been broadcasted to 
beneficiaries through the radio. The project has disseminated information using Short Messaging 
Service (SMS)/ Voice Messages (VM) for GAPs, Weather, Markets, Presence/Control of Pests 
and nutrition information through Mobile Service Providers and Radio Stations to farmers. 
OBs/OGs extension services (communication) through Voice Messaging Service and digital 
financing services through Mobile phones.
4.2.1 Lessons Learned from ICT Interventions
The project has disseminated information through radio listenership groups to beneficiary farmers 
to improve their knowledge on agriculture. However, lessons learned from this intervention is that 
although this medium has built the capacity of some smallholder farmers to increase the efficiency 
of their farming businesses and is one of the most efficient, cost-effective and sustainable means 
of communicating with farmers. Another lesson from the radio planning meetings held with 
stakeholders is that radio campaigns through Live Presenter Mentions are more effective than 
Radio Jingles, therefore subsequent campaigns such as the current FAW radio campaigns are a 
combination of the two. 
Feedback the project has received from previous beneficiaries of GAPs, weather and market tips 
showed that voice messaging in the local languages is more effective than SMS because of high 
illiteracy level. On the contrary, farmers explained that they can interpret prices for the SMS 
market tips because of the numeracy trainings they have received from the project. Another 
observation is the low mobile phone ownership by project beneficiaries which affects the total 
number of beneficiaries who access information through mobile phones. 
4.2.2 Use of ICT tools in 2018
The project will continue to use and adapt appropriate ICT tools to disseminate information in all 
technical areas based on the lessons learned from the previous years. The tools will include 
technology platforms (Short Messaging Service, Voice Messaging Service, and Radio Stations), 
ICT-Based extension delivery and promote the use of digital financial services. To maximize the 
impact of information to actors in the value chain, especially women farmers who cannot read, 
the project will shift from SMS-based information delivery to a combination of SMS and Voice 
based information delivery with emphasis on the Voice Messaging in local dialects. Agronomic 
and weather tips will be disseminated voice messaging in local dialects while market price tips 
44
will remain SMS-based. Market price tips will remain SMS-based because it is easy for farmers 
to interpret the prices in figures due to the numeracy trainings they have been receiving from the 
project. Campaigns such as control of the FAW and anti-bushfire will be sent through voice 
messaging only.
The project will continue to collaborate with partner radio stations to disseminate information 
through their agricultural programs to farmers. In order for farmers to utilize this service effectively, 
Radio Listenership Clubs will be sensitized on the benefits of the agricultural programs and groups 
will be linked to the radio stations serving their communities. The project will continue campaigns 
on anti-bushfire, FAW and other topics on partner radio stations.
The project will continue to collaborate with the Grameen Foundation to promote the use of ICT 
tools for agricultural extension. The project will support Field Agents through mentoring and 
coaching to use ICT tools to train farmers and support their OBs/NFs manage their farming 
businesses. Additionally, successful agents will be linked to less successful agents for support
and mentorship. The project will collaborate with mobile phone companies to promote the sales 
of simple phones in 2018 to increase phone ownership of beneficiary farmers to improve access.
4 3 Environment 
The project will focus on three major areas in 2018. These are (1) General compliance with USAID 
environmental regulations and procedures, (2) Improving agrochemical management, and (3) 
promote climate change adaptation strategies 
The project will continue to ensure compliance with United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (USEPA) environmental regulations through the implementation of the Pesticide 
Evaluation Report and Safer Use Action Plan (PERSUAP) and the Environmental Mitigation and 
Monitoring Plan (EMMP), while ensuring that all sub-grants are implemented within the Initial 
Environmental Examination (IEE) of the Project. To ensure compliance, the project will encourage 
farmers to use the services of trained Spray Service Providers (SSPs) to significantly reduce 
unsafe agrochemical applications. Refresher trainings will be held for existing SSPs to improve 
their services. The services of SSPs will be complemented with container management centers 
located especially in the irrigated areas. To build climate resilience among farmers, the project 
will focus on minimum tillage through ripping and the use of planting basins. 
4.3.1 General environmental compliance 
ADVANCE will continue to collaborate with the media, the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) and agrochemical retailers to ensure that Outgrower Businesses and their outgrowers 
receive technical support on safe pesticide use and management, especially to recognize 
unregistered and banned products. The project will update the approved pesticide list based on 
approved PERSUAPs and the revised EPA Register and train field staff and farmers, as well as 
all grantees, to ensure compliance.
45
4.3.2 Improving agrochemical management
In 2016 and 2017 the project trained and equipped over 700 individuals as Spray Service 
Providers (SSPs) to provide commercial spray services to smallholder farmers. In collaboration 
with PPRSD of MoFA, the project will monitor the operations of the SSPs and provide refresher 
training based on areas that require improvements, including financial management training. The 
project will also facilitate linkages between SSPs and input dealers through input promotion 
activities to ensure sustainability. The project will further improve the visibility of SSPs through 
radio jingles on safe use of pesticide. 
Some specific tasks that will be undertake include the following:
▪ Develop content for radio jingles and Live Presenter’s Messages on safe pesticide use
▪ Encourage and promote patronage of SSPs. 
▪ Monitor and report on the impact of SSPs. 
▪ Follow up activities with SSPs; focus on linkages to input companies, input promotions, 
financial management etc. 
▪ Complete container management centers in irrigated areas.
4.3.3 Climate Smart Agriculture 
Climate Smart Agriculture(CSA) practices can address some of the challenges with degraded 
soils, and especially in areas with high land pressure. Conservation agricultural practices can 
provide and preserve organic matter for carbon sequestration and moisture retention, and 
reduces the need for inorganic fertilizers. The project’s CSA strategy will focus on promoting 
minimum tillage through ripping as a technique which yields results immediately when 
implemented because of the water collection and moisture retention impacts. Ripping improves 
soil drainage by opening the soil and allowing water to infiltrate at a faster rate. This reduces 
surface runoff which causes soil erosion, and conserves moisture. Ripping also increases soil 
aeration which stimulates soil microbial activity, accelerates the breakdown of soil organic matter, 
and provides plant roots with sufficient oxygen. The project started promoting minimum tillage in 
2015 on eight acres, this increased to 200 acres in 2016 and 1391 in 2017. In 2018, the project 
is targeting over 5,000 acres. Ripping further facilitates row planting, one of the Good Agriculture 
Practices (GAPs) promoted by the ADVANCE project.
Other activities that will be implemented under the project’s CSA program will include the 
following:
▪ Document and share lessons learnt from CSA activities.
▪ Support anti-bushfire activities.
▪ Scale up the No-Bushfire campaign in each of the regions of operation through radio 
campaigns and signposts/banners
▪ ADVANCE staff will participate in an international conference to be updated on the latest 
technology on minimum-tillage and/or conservation agriculture at commercial level
46
4 .4 Grants 
Grants will be utilized to support value chain actors to adopt innovative technologies, including for 
instance CSA. Project staff will assist OBs and other major actors to identify equipment gaps 
within the business plans from a purely business perspective and recommend OBs and other 
actors in the targeted commodity value chains for grant support. The project will also use part of 
the grants to support local organizations to build their capacity to play advocacy roles to improve 
the business enabling environment, provide services to their members, or implement specific 
activities the project will identify and assign to them.
The project’s grant program has two parts, namely:
i) The Innovation and Investment Incentive (I-3) fund and 
ii) The Local Partnership Grants (LPG). 
4.4.1 Innovation and Investment Incentive
The Innovation and Investment Incentive grant is a flexible financing mechanism to reduce risk 
associated with investing in new technology and business approaches, foster innovation, leverage 
resources, and provide incentives to stimulate private sector investment and mitigate constraints 
in the targeted value chains in northern Ghana. In 2018 the project will assess the use of 
equipment provided to actors in previous years. This will inform the type of activities that will 
receive priority attention for the very limited grants that may be provided in the remaining period. 
The grants team will also monitor all equipment use, facilitate with the Agriculture Production and 
Business Services teams to train actors on record keeping and determine the equipment value 
as a profitable asset to the farmer/aggregator business.
4.4.2 Local Partnership Grant 
The Local Partnership Grants enables ADVANCE II to engage local NGOs, BDS providers, trade 
groups and other actors to directly provide services to VC actors while building the capacity of the 
local institutions through the grant management process. The DCOP in charge of Grants will 
manage both the I-3 and the LPG funds, in collaboration with the DCOP in charge of Technical 
activities.
The project will provide small grants to the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool to strengthen their 
operations and with an emphasis on building a sustainable crop insurance business. The project 
will collaborate with FinGAP in this respect.
All the local partnership grants will be closed out by end of March 2018. The project team will 
ensure that all financial and technical reports are submitted and any assets disposed of 
appropriately. 
4.4.3 Impact assessment of the grant program
The project assesses the impact that the grants have had on beneficiaries and the attainment of 
project objectives. The grants team will prepare quarterly grants reports and updates highlighting 
47
funds obligated to the various value chains and private sector resources leveraged, and these will 
be disaggregated by value chain and geographic location.
48
5.0Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
The project’s monitoring, evaluation and learning component comprises of two interrelated areas: 
(i) monitoring, evaluation and reporting and (ii) knowledge management and learning.
For this last year of the project, in addition to its usual activities, the MEL team will focus on 
assessing and documenting further ADVANCE’s impacts and the signs of their sustainability. The 
project will also develop and implement exit strategies to ensure sustainability of the 
achievements made by the project.
5.1 Monitoring and Evaluation. 
In FY18, ADVANCE will focus on the following M&E activities:
• Improving the databases and the data collection forms
• Capacity building of the team
• Routine data collection and cleaning
• Annual surveys
• Mapping and spatial analysis
• Data quality review
Improvement of databases and data collection forms
ADVANCE will create new data collection forms to better track the impacts of the project and the 
signs of the sustainability of those impacts, such as contracts between end buyers and OBs that 
haven’t been facilitated by the project, spillover results of the key activities (e.g. VSLA, GAPs 
trainings), the growth of the value chain actors (e.g. input dealers and their distribution channel) 
among others. The database will be improved accordingly to accommodate the entry, analysis 
and reporting of these data.
Microsoft will disable Access Web App, one of the tools ADVANCE uses to enter its data, from 
April 2018. ACDIVOCA will transition the project’s data into an internal server at HQ. The process 
will done in a way that it won’t affect the data collection forms’ overall look and functioning.
The project will start using PowerBi, a Microsoft suite that will significantly smoothen the analysis 
and improve visualization of the data and formatting of the dashboards.
Capacity development in M&E
The M&EL team will train all relevant staff on the new forms. All new staff and enumerators will 
also be trained on the use of Global Positioning System devices. The team will also conduct a 
refresher training for the agricultural productivity staff in each region on the use of Demosys. 
Demosys is the project’s demonstration sites data management system where location and yields 
of, treatments applied and activities implemented on, and any other notable event/information 
about the demonstration sites are collected, stored and analyzed.
The M&EL team will continue having its quarterly review meeting. This is a three day meeting 
during which issues from the past quarter are discussed, activities for the following quarter are 
prioritized, and new or updated tools (forms, dashboards, donor’s guidance documents etc.) are 
49
presented. The last day of each meeting will be dedicated to train the team on advanced data 
collection, analysis, visualization and reporting.
Before each survey, the team will train all recruited enumerators as well as all technical staff that 
will be involved in the related data collection. 
The M&EL team, with assistance from the Business Services team and the Trade and Marketing 
team, put in place Sales Tracker, a tool that helps the project supported OBs to track the support 
they provided to their OGs. Every year, the M&EL team train a dozen interns on the Sales Tracker 
to assist the OBs. In FY18, that activity is planned to take place in May for the South and June for 
the North.
In addition, the project’s Chief of Party as well as the M&E Specialist will attend the annual M&E 
Community of Practice meeting organized by ACDIVOCA HQ. 
Routine activities
The team will continue supporting the technical staff during the routine data collection. As usual, 
the team will also oversee data cleaning and import into the databases, as well as the enrolment 
and printing of the smartcards that the technical staff will distribute to the beneficiaries 
afterwards. 
Annual surveys
ADVANCE II conducts its annual gross margin survey in three phases. The first phase happens 
at planting and collects the first occurring input costs and data on application of technologies, and 
sets the demarcation area for the crop cut procedures. The second phase takes place at harvest 
and collects the production data and the remaining input costs and applied technologies. For both
phases, approximately 2,400 maize, rice and soya farmers are surveyed every year. They are 
randomly selected from the beneficiaries of the fiscal year in the project’s database. The data is 
collected through interviews and recorded using mobile devices. The third phase is conducted by 
phone in April and July on a sample of the two phases’ respondents to collect the January to 
March and April to June sales data respectively.
ADVANCE will conduct the second and third phases of the 2017 season gross margin survey for 
the North in FY18. However, due to the project’s expected end date of September 2018, the 2018 
season gross margin survey will happen for the major farming season in the South only. 
In addition to the gross margin survey, ADVANCE conducts every year a firm profit survey to 
report on its indicator “number of firms operating more profitably”. The application of technologies 
data by these firms and the OBs will be collected concurrently.
Specific activities routine monitoring
The project is supporting the country to mitigate the potentially devastating impacts of the FAW 
outbreak it is facing. To facilitate the related decision making processes and ascertain the 
progress made, ADVANCE will continue collecting, analyzing, and mapping the data obtained 
from the hotlines and the surveillance system. Moreover, additional FAW questionnaires will be 
50
administered during the gross margin surveys to obtain more representative snapshots of the 
situation. 
The M&E team will also monitor the implementation and the impacts of the VSLA activities. 
Membership, savings amounts, amount and purpose of loans taken by each VSLA group will be 
routinely tracked. In addition, further assessment will be conducted to ascertain the extent to 
which membership of VSLA influences application of technologies, especially improved inputs 
(seeds, fertilizers, agrochemicals), and yields. The assessment will have a gender lens to account 
for any gender issues and possible differences on how the VSLA affects each gender. 
Improving the availability of inputs is one of ADVANCE’ strategies to increase smallholders’ 
agricultural productivity. Since the previous year, the project implements community inputs 
promotions that coincide with the VSLA share-out activities and supports input dealers to expand 
their agency. The team will routinely track the amount of inputs purchased and sold during these 
events, the number of agents set up and the geographical expansion of the dealers’ presence in 
the communities. 
To determine the extent of the listenership group activities’ impacts, the project will continue 
tracking the listening frequency of the groups’ members, the topics they listened to and their 
relevance, what they changed in their behaviors following the sessions etc.
In collaboration with Grameen, to monitor the use of the Smartex initiative, a web-based tracking 
system has been put in place. ADVANCE will continue supporting Grameen to improve the 
system and analyzing the data to base decision on the assistance the agents need. This system 
shows the performance of each agents, the farmers’ situation before and after their interaction as 
well as project wide aggregates. 
The project assesses every year its impacts on the empowerment of its women beneficiaries 
through an adapted Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index. For that purpose, a full 
questionnaire has been developed and administered along with the gross margin survey. The 
questionnaire addresses four out of the five empowerment domains: production, resources, 
income, and leadership. The analysis of the collected data will give the level empowerment in 
each domain and overall, as well as the extent to which it influenced women’s yields. 
Mapping and spatial analysis 
The M&EL team includes a Geographic Information System (GIS) unit. Apart from the GPS 
trainings, collection and processing of the project’s spatial data, the unit will continue assessing 
the data needs of the team and producing the corresponding maps. Examples of maps are on the 
calls received through the FAW hotlines, the FAW traps’ location and scouting results, 
beneficiaries’ location, demo plots’ location, input suppliers’ location etc. Maps will also be 
produced to facilitate the planning and implementation of the different surveys. 
Data Quality Review
Data quality review is a key activity of the M&EL team and will be implemented both by the field 
team and the Accra team. Field data quality review will consist of verification of the quality of the 
51
data collected and reported by the field team. This will be done through spot visits to the 
beneficiaries and verification of the support and benefits they received against the regional 
records. In addition to the field level, the Accra team will visit the regional offices, will observe the 
documentation and filing of the forms, assess the regional capacities and will verify the regional 
records against the central database. Tools have been developed to help the team conduct the 
reviews. Each review is documented in a report that is shared with all relevant staff and which 
includes an action plan to address any noted shortfall. 
5.2 Knowledge Management and Learning
The learning activities that will be implemented during FY18 will consist mainly of:
• Conducting learning studies
• Quarterly technical review meetings
• Project evaluation
• Documentation and public sharing of the project’s activities and successes
Learning studies
In FY18, the project will undertake one study per regional office on average, totaling four studies 
for the year. Like every year, the learning topics will be identified by the program specialists and 
technical leaders with the regional coordinators during the first quarterly technical review meeting 
of the fiscal year. They will be oriented towards the assessment of the project’s impacts and the 
attributability of the noticed positive changes to the project. The findings from each study will be 
shared with all relevant partners and stakeholders during the knowledge forums in each region. 
Quarterly technical review meetings
Every quarter, the project will organize a technical review meeting that will see the participation 
of the program specialists, technical leaders, regional coordinators and ADVANCE’s senior 
management. During the meeting, each project component and each region discuss the 
achievements, challenges and lessons learned from the previous quarter, review the strategy and 
prioritize the activities for the next quarter.
Evaluation by METSS
The evaluation of ADVANCE is planned to take place in early 2018. The whole exercise will be 
led by USAID/METSS with the support by and preparation of the project.
Public relations and communication
The PRC unit in the M&EL team will continue documenting and communicating the project’s 
results and activities through:
• Three to four success stories every quarter
• Quarterly newsletters of which 1,000 copies are edited and shared with the project’s main 
stakeholders. The newsletters are also published on ACDI/VOCA’ website
• Weekly bullets to USAID
• Production of four videos
• Organization of media events
52
5.3 Exit strategy
Sustainability is a core principle and inherent in all the ADVANCE project’s strategies. Therefore, 
there are many achievements and activities that are already at a level that will be sustained 
beyond the life of the project. Examples of sustainable achievements include the functioning of 
the outgrower business model. The results of our profitability studies on the OB model (presented 
in section 2.3) provides the best evidence that the model is a sustainable business model that will 
outlive the project.
However, there are other areas that require additional effort to ensure they become sustainable 
by the close of the project. These include capacity building of new OBs and the process of 
transforming FBOs into FBEs to become businesses that provide services to their members and 
their communities in the same manner as the well-established OBs. The OBs’ networks will be 
strengthened to ensure they support their members stay in business and engage other actors in 
the value chains effectively and efficiently.
There are also areas where ADVANCE continuously explores new markets for the OBs, provide 
market intelligence information for decision making by OBs and OGs, and facilitates relationships 
between the value chain actors. Other areas where strategies would be adopted to ensure 
sustainability are the implementation of the warehouse receipt system by GGC and crop 
insurance by GAIP. The project will organize a stakeholder’s workshop in collaboration with 
FinGAP to discuss the findings of a consultancy commissioned by FinGAP to provide guidance 
in developing a sustainable crop insurance industry in Ghana. 
The project will organize fora with all project stakeholders, including USAID, to brainstorm and 
assess existing strategies and modify them where necessary, to ensure that all aspects of the 
project are taken up by actors and stakeholders before the project closes in September 2018. At 
least one workshop will be held in each region to deliberate and act on this matter.
Finally, the project will provide grants to several local organizations that have been trained to 
enable them continue pursuing the advocacy issues that have been started. These include those 
relating to lobbying chiefs and community leaders to reserve suitable land for female farmers, 
agribusiness-friendly by-laws and those that protect the environment, and basic infrastructure that 
facilitates investment in agriculture. 
53
Annex 1: ADVANCE II Implementation Plan Tracking Sheet - PY 2018
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1
SUB-PURPOSE 1: 
INCREASE 
AGRICULTURAL 
PRODUCTIVITY IN 
TARGETED 
COMMODITIES
1.1
Increased Adoption of 
improved productivity -
enhancing technologies, 
services and practices 
by women and men 
farmers 1
1.1.1
ACTOR LEAD 
TECHNOLOGY 
DEMONSTRATION SITES
TLA/RCs/APOs 483 Demos 
established 0
1.1.1.1
Select sites strategically 
aided by the project 
database and 
productivity maps with 
consideration for easy 
access by farmers, 
qualified lead farmers, 
and productivity factors
APO/M&E 483 Demos 
established
483
1.1.1.2
OBs assisted to procure 
required demo inputs 
from input dealers for 
Demos setup.
APO/SAPO/RCs
20 private sector 
partners 
identified 0
1.1.1.3
Monitor pesticide use 
on demos ES/APOs 483 demos 
monitored 483
1.1.1.4
Conduct off-demo and 
demo-site GAPs training 
with private sector 
firms, Nucleus Farmers 
and MOFA-AEAs where 
possible.
APO/SAPO/M&E 48,300 farmers 
trained on GAPs
31395
1.1.1.5
Conduct PHH training 
with private sector 
firms, Nucleus Farmers 
and MOFA-AEAs where 
possible.
APO/SAPO/M&E 48,300 farmers 
trained on PHH
31395
1.1.1.6
Conduct Model Farms 
to showcase ripping at APO/SAPO/M&E
200 Hybrid Seed 
Ripped Demos 
established 0
54
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
commercial level for 
land preparations
1.1.1.7
Disseminate GAPs 
information through 
SMS/Voice messaging 
services providers, call 
centers, other media 
mainly through radio 
and radio listener 
groups.
Sensitize radio 
listenership groups on 
radio agric program
Link listenership groups 
to radio stations
Sponsorship for radio 
agric program
ICT
5 new radio 
stations/500 
listenership 
groups to be 
sensitized. 
Continuous 
dissemination 
of GAPs 
information 
through Radio 
Agric Program 
to educate 
farmers on 
the best 
farming 
practices.
Link 
listenership
clubs to radio 
station to 
create a 
lasting 
relationship 
ensure 
continuous
flow of 
information 
from radio 
stations to 
farmers even 
after the 
ADVANCE 
project. 
Sponsorship 
to ensure 
sustainable 
Radio Agric 
Program to 
educate 
farmers and
to inform 
farmers of 
available and 
access to 
inputs.
0
55
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.1.7.1 Support Radio stations 
to develop content for 
radio shows. Radio 
planning sessions with 
radio partners and 
stakeholders ICT
1 planning 
session per 
region
To deliberate 
on how to 
continue 
supporting 
farmers to 
create a 
lasting 
working 
relation 
among all 
stakeholders
0
1.1.1.7.2 Organize focus groups / 
surveys to determine 
contribution of radio 
shows in increased 
productivity. Link Field 
Agent to listenership 
groups for monitoring 
purposes
ICT
Facilitate training 
of selected 
Agents
This is to 
ensure 
continuos 
support from 
Field Agents 
to Radio 
Listenership 
Groups for 
dissemination 
of GAPs 
information
0
1.1.2 FIELD MANAGEMENT 
PROGRAM
OB better 
manage their 
business, 
improve 
investment by 
Obs, improve 
quantity and 
quality of 
services to 
Ogs, Ogs 
adopt 
improved 
TMP, Ogs 
increase yield 
and GM, 
sustainable 
OB model
0
1.1.2.1 Organize capacity 
building training for 
engaged agents
APO/BSO 60 Outgrower 
businesses 
adopting the FMP 156
1.1.2.2 Facilitate delivery of 
technical Services 
through field agents 
which should include 
extension and tractor 
0
56
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
service management, 
OG input distribution, 
post-harvest 
mechanization, 
GAP/PHH training, 
demo site management, 
production collection 
and aggregation, 
community liaison, lead 
farmer development
1.1.2.3 Organize review 
meeting with agents for 
review of plans, 
progress, challenges, 
successes and lesson 
sharing 0
1.1.2.4
Promote the use of ICT 
tool for Ag extension 
with Grameen 
Foundation 
ICT
Support 90 Field 
Agents to use ICT 
Tools to train at 
least 10,000 SHFs
Support 
through 
monitoring 
and coaching 
to use the ICT 
tools in 
training 
farmers on 
good 
agronomic 
practices as 
well as help 
their Obs in 
managing 
their 
business. 0
1.1.2.4.1 Conduct monitoring 
visits and report on 
progress of the FMP
ICT
90 visits
1/agent. 25 visits 
per each quarter 
Continuous 
interaction with 
field agents and 
remote 
assistance on the 
regional 
WhatsApp 
platforms
To monitor 
the progress 
of the field 
activities
0
57
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.2.4.2 Organize review 
meeting with agents on 
the Smartex program 
with Grameen for 
review of progress, 
challenges, successes 
and lesson sharing 
ICT
8 meetings.
2 meeting per 
each region 
To review 
progress, 
successes, 
challenges 
and lesson 
sharing
0
1.1.2.4.3 Support the Field 
Agents to monitor 
usage of the Tablets
ICT
All Agents
0
1.1.2.5 Organize Pre and Post 
-
Seasonal meetings 
between Outgrower 
Businesses and 
Community Lead 
Farmers
0
1.1.2.5.1 Services include tractor 
service management, 
OG input distribution, 
post
-harvest 
mechanization, 
GAP/PHH training, 
demo site management, 
production collection 
and aggregation, 
community liaison, lead 
farmer development
0
1.1.2.6 Grant program to be 
used as incentive to 
start field management 
services and to offset 
startup costs 
- limited to 
motorcycle or “motor
-
king” to aid in necessary 
mobility required for 
the job
Grants/APO 35 grants to OB s 
$200,000
0
1.1.2.7 A visit will be made to 
Nigeria to see a 
successful model of 
mechanization service 
provision, to see what 
could be replicable in 
Ghana to make the OB 
model more profitable 
and sustainable, 
especially the side 
related to equipment.
TD/ RC 2 staff members 
0
58
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.3 PROMOTE CLIMATE 
SMART AGRICULTURE
Building 
capacities, 
increasing 
demand and 
offer of CSA 
inputs/equip
ment/innovat
ions, 
increasing 
application of 
ITMP, 
mitigate the 
negative 
impact of 
climate 
change, 
sustain yields 
and GM
0
1.1.3.1 Conduct cover crop 
demonstrations
0
1.1.3.2 Maintain and monitor 
2017 ripped plots
0
1.1.3.3 Facilitate no
-burn policy 
campaing in all regions 
District Assembly, 
MOFA and policy to 
coordinate
0
1.1.3.4 Establishment of demo 
plots of minimum
-tillage 
(using rippers in the 
demo plots)
APO
30 CSA new 
demos 
established 30
1.1.3.5 Field days to teach 
farmers on Climate 
Smart Agriculture and 
the benefits it will bring 
considering the erratic 
precipitation of last 
years, 
APO 30 CSA field days 
organized
30
1.1.3.6 Promote Model farms 
(At least I per region) APOs 3 model farms 
facilitated
3
59
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.3.7
Upscale the no
-burn 
campaign. 
Facilitate no
-burn policy 
campaign in all regions 
District Assembly, 
MOFA and policy to 
coordinate
Collaborate with Ghana 
National Fire Service to 
form community 
Volunteer squads.
ICT/ES
2 community 
durbars in each 
region
radio campaigns 
in at least 3 
districts/region
4 banners/region
200 
posters/region
Wellington Boots, 
Cutlasses, Fire 
Beaters, 
Protective gear
Community 
fire volunteer
squads to 
help educate 
communities 
on the 
harmful 
effects on 
burning on 
the 
environment 
and to serve 
as watchdogs 
in their 
communities.
0
1.1.3.7.1
Carry out more radio 
jingles for no
-slash and 
burn campaign
ICT/ES 2 Jingles 
produced
0
1.1.3.7.2
Organize relevant 
information from EPA ICT/ES
0
1.1.3.8
Draft and air messages 
on safe pesticide use ICT/ES
0
1.1.3.9
Provide weather 
forecasting through 
SMS technology
ICT
10,000 new users 
receiving 
weather 
forecasting
This will only 
be for the 
South and it 
will start from 
Feb 
- July 10000
1.1.3.9.1
Identify new users from 
M&E database ICT/MIS
New users 
from the 
South
0
1.1.3.9.2
Support Farmerline to 
deploy technology ICT
0
1.1.3.9.3
Monitor usage by new 
users and document 
successes through focus 
groups
ICT
50% To assess the 
impact of the 
weather tips 
on their 
farming 
activities
0
60
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.4 ORGANIZE FARM 
CLINICS
Appropriate 
diagnostics of 
farms' issues, 
appropriate 
solutions 
proposed by 
the experts, 
increased 
capacity of 
staff and Obs, 
better 
services for 
Ogs, 
increased 
application of 
IMPT, yields, 
GM 0
1.1.4.1 Identify the critical 
production issues in the 
communities targeted 
APO/TLA 13
15
1.1.4.2 Coordinate with experts 
at regional MoFA-PPRSD 
offices 0
1.1.4.3 Coordinate with 
experts/research to 
assess those within their 
capacity and beyond 
MoFA 0
1.1.4.4 Organize Farm Clinics 
with support from 
PPRSD and Plant 
Doctors, especially on 
FAWs 0
1.1
Strengthened systems 
for financial, advisory, 
aggregation and on￾farm, post-harvest 
service provision and 
input distribution 0
1.1.5
DIGITAL FINANCE 
SERVICES 0
1.1.5.1
Link OB/OG to Mobile 
Money Service 
providers
BSO/ICT/APO/T
MO/GS
60 OB's/5000 
OG's No. of 
OB's/OG's linked 5000
1.1.5.2
Register/ Setup 
OB/OG/promote mobile 
BSO/ICT/APO/T
MO/GS
60 OBs as 
merchants/5000 0
61
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
phone usage among out 
growers
OGs as 
subscribers
1.1.5.3
Coach OB's/ OG's to 
incorporate service into 
operations
BSO/ICT/APO/T
MO/GS
60 OBs as 
merchants/5000 
OGs as 
subscribers
To help all 
partners in 
the value 
chain focus 
on electronic 
money 
contributing 
to the success 
of their 
businesses. 0
1.1.5.4 Monitor service usage
BSO/ICT/APO/T
MO/GS
60 OBs as 
merchants/5000 
OGs as 
subscribers
To monitor 
the progress 
of electronic 
transaction in 
their activites. 0
1.1.6
IMPROVED ACCESS TO 
BUSINESS PLANNING 
AND MANAGEMENT 
PRACTICES
BS Team
Good 
business 
plans lead to 
better OB 
management, 
improves 
access to 
credit, lead to 
increased 
investment, 
increase 
quantity and 
quality of 
services, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
increased 
profitability 
of Obs, yields 
and GM 0
1.1.6.1 Administer Business 
Diagnostic Tool on new 
OB's 
BS Team 150 BDT 
administered
152
1.1.6.2 Develop Business Plan BS Team 200 BP's 
developed
200
62
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.6.3 Continue and make 
adjustments to BP's 
when necessary
BS Team/APO's 100 No. of BP's 
reviewed
100
1.1.6.4 Develop Long Term 
Strategic Plans(4 years) 
for OB's identified as 
well-established leaders
BS Team/APO's 50 No. of 
strategic plans 
developed
52
1.1.7 FACILITATE OB 
NETWORKING
APO/ES/GS Sharing 
experiences 
and 
knowledge, 
bulk 
procurement, 
bulk sale, 
leading to 
improved 
OBM 
capacity, 
advocacy 
capacity, 
application of 
TMP by OB, 
increase of 
investment 
and profit, 
better and 
more services 
for Ogs, 
application on 
ITMP by Ogs, 
improved 
yields and 
GM, 
sustainable 
OB model 0
1.1.7.1 Follow up on the 10 
most active networks 
to help in planning
APO/AS
0
1.1.7.2 Guide them in their 
advocacy activities with 
bi-annual support 
meetings
APO/SAPO/AS
0
63
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.8
OUTGROWER BUSINESS 
MANAGEMENT
Increased 
capacity leads 
to better OB 
management, 
improves 
access to 
credit, lead to 
increased 
investment, 
increase 
quantity and 
quality of 
services, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
increased 
profitability 
of Obs, yields 
and GM 0
1.1.8.1 OBM training will take 
place during the crop 
calendar.
BSO/APO/TMO 300 OB's No. of 
OB s trained
300
1.1.8.2 Assist OB's to put in 
place records keeping 
system
BSO 300 No. of OB's 
using and 
maintaining 
records 300
1.1.8.3 Follow up to monitor 
application and progress 
of skills transferred 
BSO/APO/TMO 300 
300
1.1.8.4 Asset utilization and 
profitability assessment 
through the Asset 
Utilization Tool 0
64
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.9 OB OFFICE PROGRAM
Offices allow 
better 
organization 
of admin 
system, 
image and 
reputation, 
enhanced 
visibility and 
credibility, 
confidence of 
SHF and end 
market, 
leading to 
enhanced 
access to 
credit, 
enhanced 
sale and 
access to 
OGs, 
increased 
investment, 
increase 
quantity and 
quality of 
services, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
increased 
profitability 
of Obs, yields 
and GM
0
1.1.9.1
Encourage OB's to set 
up office
BS Team 100 No. of offices 
established 100
1.1.9.2
Interns from University 
of Development Studies 
(UDS) will be assigned 
to OBs to assist the OB 
manager with new 
office systems and 
procedures
BS Team/RC 50 interns No. of 
OB's assisted 
with interns
52
65
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.1.10
IMPROVED ACCESS TO 
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Enhanced 
access to 
credit leading 
to increased 
investment, 
increased 
quantity and 
quality of 
services, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
increased 
profitability 
of Obs, yields 
and GM
0
1.1.10.1 Promote Rural Savings 
and Loans 
BS 
Team/CDO/GS
200 No. of VSLAs 
set up 200
1.1.10.2 Encourage smallholder 
farmers own savings BS 
Team/CDO/GS
70% of share outs 
invested in 
productions(At 
least 1,500 
members) 
0
1.1.10.3
Promote finance 
through tripartite 
arrangements
BS 
Team/APO/TMO
30 tripartite 
agreements 
signed 32
1.1.10.4
Link actors to FIs based 
on investment gaps in 
business plans 
especially on inputs and 
equipment
BS Team/APO $1,000,000 Value 
of loans accessed
0
1.1.11
INPUT DEALER 
BUSINESS 
DEVELOPMENT 
PROGRAM
Increased 
capacity of ID, 
increased 
access to 
credit, 
improved ID 
management, 
increased 
investment by 
ID, availability 
of inputs, 
increased 
quantity and 
quality of 
0
66
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
services by 
OBs, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
increased 
profitability 
of IDs, yields 
and GM
1.1.11.1
Support Input Dealers 
improve on 
management systems
BS Team/ES
85 No. of input 
dealers with 
improved 
management 
systems 85
1.1.11.3
Support input dealers to 
expand sales channels 
using the community 
agent concept and link 
to them MM
BS Team
0
1.1.11.4
Collaborate with the Ag 
production team to 
facilitate access to 
inputs at the 
community level.
BS Team/APOs
0
1.1.11.5
Where necessary, 
develop business plans 
for input dealers BS Team/ES 20 20
1.1.12
INPUT ACCESS AT 
COMMUNITY LEVEL 
IMPROVED
BS Team/APO/ES
More agents, 
Increase of 
availability of 
inputs, 
increased use 
of inputs by 
Ogs, 
investment by 
Obs, 
application on 
ITMP by Ogs, 
improved 
yields and 
GM, 
sustainable
inputs 0
67
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
provision 
system
1.1.12.1 Strengthening 
relationships between 
existing agents and 
input dealers
APO/SAPO 80 communities 
identified 
80
1.1.12.2 Strengthening existing 
SSPs with training and 
logistics
APO/ES/GS
0
1.1.12.3 Facilitate linkages 
between MOFA, Existing 
Agents and Input 
Dealers
APO/ES/GS
0
1.1.12.4 Hold sensitization fora 
for SSPs, Community 
Input Agents, Input 
dealers, OBs and 
farmers 0
1.1.12.5 Facilitate linkages 
between Local input 
dealers, OBs and SSPs
APO/ES/GS
0
1.1.12.6 Organise training 
workshops to build the 
capacity of 
APOs/SAPOs/CDOs to 
dispel the wrong 
notions of hybrids as 
GMOs
APO/ES/GS
0
1.2
Strengthened incentives 
for smallholder 
investment in new 
productivity enhancing 
technologies, services 
and practices 0
68
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.2.1 PRE
-SEASON AGRI
-
BUSINESS FORUM TLA/RCs/ICT 1 Number of pre
-
season events
Creates 
linkage 
between Obs 
and inputs, 
equipment 
and finance 
providers, 
increased 
investment by 
Obs, 
improved 
quantity and 
quality of 
services by 
Obs, 
increased 
application of 
ITMP by Obs 
and Ogs, 
higher yields 
and GM
Sustainability 
strategy will 
be to 
Sensitize OB 
Networks to 
organize 
Regional/Zon
al Sessions 
0
1.2.1.1
Facilitate participation 
of all OBs and viable 
FBOs 
RCs/APO/SAPO
300 Number of 
OB/FBO 
participants 300
1.2.1.2
Facilitate participation 
of inputs, finance, 
equipment and other 
services providers
ICT
Number of 
private sector 
exhibitors (40)
The need to 
engage the 
services of 
and introduce 
local 
fabricators to 
beneficiary 
(sustainability 
&affordability )
0
69
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
1.2.2 FARMER MENTOR 
PROGRAM
Mentoring 
leads to 
reinforce 
each other, 
improves 
interest and 
capacity of 
NFs, 
application of 
TMP by OB, 
increase of 
investment, 
better and 
more services 
for Ogs, 
application on 
ITMP by Ogs, 
improved 
yields and 
GM, 
sustainable 
OB model
0
1.2.2.1 Identify established OBs 
with strengths in the 
various project 
intenvention areas for 
OBM and invite them to 
mentor new and weak 
scoring OBs (on the 
categorization process) 
to the program benefits 
and risks
APO 30 Mentors
0
1.2.2.2 Organize training for 
mentors on "Effective 
Mentoring"
APO 180 NF Mentees
180
1.2.2.3 Identify and establish 
the capacity gaps of 
various prospective 
mentees (new & old) 
and appropriately align 
them to the right 
mentors
APO
0
1.2.2.4 Organize groups of 
prospective OBs with 
certain established 
capacity gaps to visit OB 
farms for first
-hand 
APO
0
70
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
experience in what a 
multi
-service operation 
can look like
1.2.2.5 Organize special visits 
to HYBRID MAIZE sites 
to view the merits of 
high quality hybrid seed 
for promotion of hybrid 
seeds adoption 
APO
0
1.2.2.6 Organize special visits 
to CSA model farms to 
learn application of all 
the best farm practice 
and its benefits 
APO
0
1.2.3 CROP INSURANCE
0
1.2.3.1 Sensitize Actors to 
purchase crop insurance 
to mitigate against 
drought
BSO 150 Policies
152
1.2.3.2 Based on results of a 
pilot started in the last 
quarter of 2017 support 
to GAIP can be scaled 
up through Field Agents 
turned into Promotion 
Agents of Crop 
Insurance in the 
communities they 
supervise. 
BSO 60
60
1.2.3.3 Incorporate 
communications on 
drought index insurance 
schemes on partner 
radio and ICT firm’s 
platform to educate 
farmers on the 
availability and access 
to the schemes.
BSO/ICT
0
2
SUB
-PURPOSE 2: 
INCREASE MARKET 
ACCESS AND TRADE OF 
TARGETED 
COMMODITIES
0
71
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
2.1
Improve the capacity of 
men and women (and 
firms) to participate in 
markets
0
2.1.1
MARKET LINKAGE 
DEVELOPMENT
0
2.1.1.1
Two Way Trade 
Missions
TLT/TMS/TMO 17 Trade 
Missions
0
2.1.1.2
Pre
-Harvest Event DCOP(T)/TLT 1 Event 
Organized
0
2.1.1.3
Contract Facilitation TLT/TMO 100 Contracts
0
2.1.1.4
Training of OGs in 
Produce Quality 
Requirements
-maize 
and soybean continued 
and start rice one
TLT/TMO 20,000 OGs
20000
2.1.1.5
Provision of Market 
Information & 
Intelligence Services 
TLT/TMS/TMO/G
GC
4 Quarterly 
Market 
Intelligence 
Reports
0
2.2 Increase availability and 
use of 
affordable/sustainable 
services
0
2.2.1 TRADE ASSOCIATION 
SUPPORT
0
2.2.1.2 Promotion of 
Warehouse Receipts 
(with GGC)
TLT/TMS/TMO/G
GC
Per GGC Year 4 
Grant
0
2.2.1.3 Promotion of Structured 
Trade in Informal 
Markets in the South
TLT/TMOs/Grant s
Number of 
Traders Applying 
Structured 
Trading 
Elements; 
Percentage of 
Traders Applying 
Structured 
Trading Elements
0
2.2.1.4 Support for Ghana Rice 
Festival
TLT/TMS/TMOs 2017 Rice Festival 
Supported
0
72
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
2.2.1.5 Capacity Building for 
Trade Associations 
(Finance, Governance, 
Advocacy, etc.)
TLT/TMS/PA 5 Trade 
Associations 
Supported 
0
2.2.1.6 Advocacy on Cross 
Border Trade. 
TLT/TMS
0
2.2.1.7 Staff of ADVANCE will 
participate in the annual 
conference of 
Borderless Alliance
TLT/TMS 2 Staff attending
0
2.3
Increase private sector 
investment and 
innovation to support 
value chain 
development
0
2.3.1 Market Lead Firm 
Competiveness
0
2.3.1.1 Support Buyer 
Outgrower 
Development
TLT/TMS/TMO/A
PO/BSO
Maintain 10 
Existing Buyer 
Schemes 
-
Agricare, 
AVNASH, Akate, 
Premium Foods, 
Royal Danemac, 
Hawa Rice/ANS 
Mills, Duna 
Farms, Sahel 
Grains, G. 
Bosomtwi Farms, 
Yedent
0
2.3.1.2 ADVANCE will support 
large Outgrower 
shemes with 1 field 
supervisor for a period 
of 6 months. The Buyer 
will then see the 
benefits of this 
supervision and will hire 
the supervisor 
permanently. 
TLT/TD 2 Large 
Outgrower 
Schemes
supported
0
2.3.1.3 Finance Facilitation for 
Buyers
TLT/TMS US$250,000 in 
Finance 
Facilitated for 
Buyers
0
73
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
2.3.1.4 BDS Support to Buyers TLT/TMS/TMOs 30 Buyers 
Supported
0
2.3.1.5 Plant and processing 
upgrade for Buyers
TLT/TMS/TMOs 4 
buyers/processin
g firms accesssing 
plant and 
equipment grants 0
2.4 Increase private sector 
investment and 
innovation to support 
value chain 
development 0
2.4.1 NORTH GHANA 
PROCESSING UPGRADE 0
2.4.1.1 Food (Maize/Soy) 
Processing Upgrade
TLT/TMO/Grants 2 Food 
Processors 
Upgraded 0
2.4.1.2 Improvement in Parboil 
Rice Techniques
TLT/TMO/Grants 20 Ent./ groups 
trained; 20 Ent./ 
groups accessing 
SEGs (Parboil 
Vessels) 0
2.4.1.3 BDS Support to North 
Ghana Agro Processors
TLT/TMO/Grants 6 North Ghana 
MSME Agro 
Processors 
accessing BDS 
support 0
2.4.2 COMMUNITY-BASED 
MARKET SYSTEMS 
STRENGTHENED 0
2.4.2.1
Assess impact of SMFM 
on beneficiaries TL/TMOs/CDOs 65 FBOs 65
2.4.2.2
Mentor and coach 
beneficiary FBOs on 
good administrative and 
management practices TL/TMOs/CDOs 0
2.4.2.4
Facilitate learning visits 
among potential FBEs 
for experience sharing TL/TMOs/CDOs 24 visits 24
2.4.2.5
Train Potential FBEs 
under transformation 
on SMFM TL/TMOs/CDOs 20 FBOs 20
0
74
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
3
SUB
-PURPOSE 3: 
STRENGTHEN CAPACITY 
FOR ADVOCACY AND 
ACTIVITY 
IMPLEMENTATION
0
3.1
Strengthen advocacy 
capacity of value chain 
actors and their 
associations to address 
identified value chain
-
specific enabling 
environment 
constraints particularly 
to the north
0
3.1.1
IDENTIFYING AND 
ADDRESSING SPECIFIC 
ENABLING 
ENVIRONMENT 
CONTRAINTS. 
Increase in 
number of policy 
changes 
supportive to 
agriculture; 
improved 
enabling 
environment for 
Obs and other VC 
bussineses
0
3.1.1.1
Award grants to 
selected LNGOs to 
undertake advocacy 
actions PAS
4 orgs awarded
0
3.1.1.2
Monitor and evaluate 
the results of the 
advocacy actions by the 
grantees PAS, CDOs 
5 grantees 
monitored
0
3.1.1.3
Train and support 
grantees to develop 
long term advocacy 
strategies to address 
agribusiness 
environmental 
constraints 5 Orgs trained
0
3.1.1.4
Monitor the progress of 
CREMA societies 
advocacy action on 
district assemblies 
passage and 
gazettement of CREMA 
by
-laws to check bush 
fires
4 CREMA 
Societies
0
75
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
3.1.1.5
Support trade 
associations to 
undertake advocacy 
actions TMOs/PAS/CDOs
0
3.1.2
BUILD CAPACITY OF OBs 
AND FBOs ON POLICY 
AND ADVOCACY
PAS, PAO, CDOs , 
RCS 
Networks taking 
up advocacy 
issues affecting 
them; increased 
reforms & 
responsiveness of 
agricultural 
policies to Obs 
bussiness
0
3.1.2.1
Train FBO network on 
leadership, basic 
advocacy skills, local 
governance system and 
policy processes at the 
local level 
4 FBO Networks 
formed,7 
Networks 
strengthened
0
3.1.2.2
Conduct OBs networks 
mentorship visits to 
strengthen their 
internal structures
0
3.1.2.3
Continue supporting 
Zonal OBs networks 
identify specific 
advocacy issues and 
develop advocacy plans 
to address them PAS & CDOs 14
0
3.1.2.4
Organize Regional Level 
OBs and FBOs network 
forum PAS &CDOs 4 fora
4
3.1.2.5
Support OBs & FBOs 
networks create 
awareness among 
themselve and their 
communities about 
women access to 
productive farm land PAS, PAO &CDOs 
21 FBO Networks 
and OB networks
0
3.1.3
DEVELOPMENT AND 
PROMOTION OF 
DISTRICT 
AGRICULTURAL 
INVESTMENT PLANS PAS, PAO &CDOs 
Increased private 
& public 
investment in 
agriculture in the 
district
0
76
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
3.1.3.1
Train MMDAs in 
development and 
promotion of DAIPs PAS & TLTM 4 trainings 4
3.1.3.2
Facilitate the 
promotion of DAIPs 
through exhibitions and 
linkage to Ghana 
Investment Promotion PAS, & PAO
3 exhibitions per 
DAIP, 36 
Exhibitons 0
3.1.3.3
Collaborate with 
beneficiary MMDAs to 
monitor and document 
the outcomes and 
lessons from their 
agribusiness investment 
promotion activities
PAS, PAO, CDOs 
& RCs 0
3.2
Strengthen local 
institutions to 
implement inclusive 
value chain 
development and 
become eligible for 
USAID funding 0
3.2.1
BUILD CAPACITY OF 
SELECTED LOCAL 
ORGANIZATIONS TLC 0
3.2.1.1 Organize stepdown 
training for local NGOs TLC/CDO 20 organizations 20
3.2.1.2 Facilitate LNGOs access 
to ADVANCE Grants TLC/CDO 1 per region 4
3.3.
CAPACITY 
DEVELOPMENT FOR 
PROGRAM 
IMPLEMENTATION
TL/CDOs
0
3.3.1 CONSOLIDATE 
NUMERACY TRAININGS 
11000 SHF 
trained 11000
3.3.1.1
Identify and assess local 
institutions to conduct 
ToT TLC/CDO 0
3.3.1.2
Identify potential 
trainers based on 
location TLC/CDO 0
77
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
3.3.1.3
Organize ToT for 
community level 
trainers TLC/CDO
0
3.3.1.4
Organize trainings at 
community level for SHF Consultant 11000
3.3.1.5
Monitor and Evaluate 
training activities TLC/CDO
0
3.3.1.6
Assess the impact of 
numeracy trainings
0
3.3.2 CONSOLIDATE FAAB 
TRAININGS TLC/CDO
8,500
8500
3.3.2.1
Identify potential 
trainers based on 
location TLC/CDO
0
3.3.2.2
Organize ToT for 
community level 
trainers TLC/CDO
0
3.3.2.3
Train OG s on FaaB at 
the community level Consultant
8,500
8500
3.3.2.4
Monitor and Evaluate 
training activities TLC/CDO
0
Assess the impact of 
FaaB trainings
Consultant
0
3.4
CAPACITY 
DEVELOPMENT FOR 
FBEs (UPGRADE FROM 
FBOs)
0
3.4.1
Engage a Consultant to 
conduct final 
assessment of potential 
FBEs TL/CDO 30FBOs 30
3.4.2
Facilitate the linking of 
potential FBEs to other 
actors i.e. input 
retailers, Financial 
Institutions, Extension 
services, 
aggregators/end 
buyers/processors etc TMO/CDO 155 FBOs
0
3.4.3
Facilitate FBEs 
participation in OBM 
training BSO/TL/CDO
0
78
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
3.4.4
Support FBOs to 
establish and sponsor 
demos TL/CDO/APO
0
3.4.5
Train potential FBE 
leaders on 
sustainability, group 
dynamics and other 
thematic areas Consultant
300 FBE 
Leaders(3 per FBE 
x100 FBEs)
0
3.4.6
Support FBOs/FBEs to 
develop sutainability 
plans such as Business 
plans, Succession plans CDO/BS 30 FBEs 30
4
Program Support 
-
Gender Mainstreaming
0
4.1
Women engaged in 
increased agricultural 
productivity in targeted 
commodities
0
4.1.1 Build capacity of women 
associate NFs, lead 
farmers of OBs, through 
mentorship programs to 
manage OG networks
GS/APO/BSO 100 additional 
female leaders
100
4.1.2 Encourage women NFs, 
associate NFs and lead 
farmers to host 
environmentally friendly 
technology 
demonstration
GS/APOs/SAPOs Inclusion
0
4.1.3 Promote further women 
friendly equipment 
(manual planters, 
dibblers, shellers, 
threshers, tarpaulins 
etc.)
GS/Ag TL/APO 
s/TD
500 more grant 
approved 
applications 
500
4.1.4 Link women farmers 
and women groups to 
OBs to access 
technologies, enhancing 
services and training. 
This include tractor 
service, agro
-input , 
planters, post
-harvest 
mechanization, 
GAP/PHH training etc.
APO/BSO/GS Inclusion
0
79
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
4.1.5 Support women 
farmers ( Obs, FBOs, 
FBEs, Lead farmers) 
with training on 
technology 
GS/APO 4000 women 
trained in 
technology
4000
4.1.6 Support ES in campaigns 
against women 
pesticide application 
and encourage them to 
access commercial 
service providers
GS/ES/APOs Inclusion
0
4.1.7 Actively engage women 
in capacity building: 
through various 
capacity building 
programs such as FaaB 
and Numeracy 
GS/CDO 10,000 women 
trained in 
Numeracy and 
FaaB 
10000
4.1.8 Support women to 
invest in their 
livelihood. Encourage 
village savings and loan 
groups for women and 
men, and link these 
groups to access agro
-
inputs and market 
opportunities
GS/CDO/BSO/T
MO
40% Men
0
4.1.9 Raise awareness of land 
rights and land 
ownership/larger land 
size for women to farm 
through organizing 
informal meetings in 
communities; 
promoting success 
stories
GS/PS/APO Inclusion
0
4.1.10 Facilitate women's 
access to land : Use the 
existing NF
-outgrower 
structures; traditional 
authorities and other 
donor partners to help 
leverage land so it is 
more readily available 
for productive women 
GS/APO/PS 2000
2000
80
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
4.1.11 Ensure women have 
access to information: 
Promote appropriate 
technologies such as 
use of mobile devices 
and listenership clubs 
targeted to women's 
specific needs
GS/ICT Inclusion
0
4.1.12 Build the capacity of 
radio hosts of ag. 
programs in gender 
integrationExpand 
Numeracy training 
facilitated by local 
organizations
GS/ICT 30 radio stations
0
4.2
Increase women market 
access and trade of 
targeted commodities
0
4.2.1
Build capacity of women 
to access markets: 
provide training in 
business, financial and 
IT skills to women 
business owners and 
group members GS/BSO/ICT Inclusion 40%
0
4.2.2
Introduce market 
linkages; link women 
farmers and women's 
groups to formal 
markets and put in 
place structures to help 
them maintain control 
over their income GS/TMO/CDO
0
4.2.3
Build women's 
leadership capacity: 
Conduct skills and 
leadership training for 
women at different 
levels of the value chain 
( producer/marketing 
groups, associations and 
business managers)
GS/BSTL 1000 women 
trained in 
leadership
8500
4.2.4 Expand Numeracy 
training facilitated by 
local organizations
CDO 10,000 women 
trained in 
Numeracy 8500
81
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
4.3
NUTRITION SENSITIVE 
AGRICULTURE 0
4.3.1 Promote the production 
of high yielding protein 
maize varieties by 
women farmers through 
demonstrations and in 
community promotions
GS/APOs/SAPOs 2,000 women 
trained and 
planting high 
protein maize
0
4.3.2 Collaborate with other 
projects and WIAD to 
build capacity of women 
FBO groups, Female 
OBs, and farmers on soy 
and cereal nutrition 
formulation that 
benefits value chain 
actors Households
GS/RING/WIAD 8000 women and 
their HHs
8500
4.3.3 Link women's group to 
ICT firms (Esoko, Radio 
stations) for 
dissemination of 
nutrition messages on 
soy, rice and maize 
formulations
GS/ICT 8000 women
8500
5
SUB-PURPOSE 
5:PROGRAM SUPPORT -
ENVIRONMENT 0
5.1
General environmental 
compliance 0
5.1.1 Revise approved 
pesticide list based on 
approved PERSUAPs 
andRevised EPA 
Register
Env'tal specialist 4 trainings
0
5.1.2 Conduct environmental 
compliance trainings for 
field staff and clients 0
5.1.3 Ensure sub-grant 
activities are in the 
scope of the Initial 
Environmental 
Examination 0
5.1.4 Conduct pesticide use 
monitoring on 
demonstration plots in 
Env'tal specialist Report 
completed
0
82
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
line with the 
requirements of the 
PERSUAP. 
5.2
IMPROVING 
AGROCHEMICAL 
MANAGEMENT
0
5.2.1 Develop outreach 
content on safe 
pesticide handling for 
radio broadcasts.
ES/ICT 3 program 
contents
0
5.2.2 Develop content for 
radio jingles on safe 
pesticide use 
-
encourage patronage of 
SSPs
3 contents
0
5.2.3 Monitor and report on 
the impact of SSPs
ES/APOs Report 
completed
0
5.2.4 Follow up activities with 
SSPs; focus on linkages 
to input companies, 
input promotions, 
financial management.
701 persons 
supported
0
5.2.5 Complete container 
management centers in 
irrigated areas of
- Tono, 
Vea
12 locations
0
5.3
Climate smart 
agriculture
0
5.4.1 Document and share 
lessons learnt from CSA 
activities
ES/APOs
0
5.4.2 Support anti
-bushfire 
activities in 2 Districts 
for each Region
ICT/GNFS/APOs/
0
5.4.3 Scale
-up the No
-
Bushfire campaign in 
each of the regions of 
operation through radio 
campaigns and 
signposts/banners
0
5.4.4 Facilitate linkage 
between farmers 
already implementing 
agroforestry systems 
and nurseries
ES/APOs
25
83
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
5.4.5 ADVANCE staff will 
participate in an 
international 
conference to see the 
most recent technology 
in minimum-tillage 
and/or conservation 
agriculture at 
commercial level
TD/RC/TLA 4 staff trained
0
9.0
FALL ARMYWORM 
CONTROL AND 
MANAGEMENT 0
9.1
Establish a Surveillance
system and an 
Awareness Campaign of 
the FAW 0
9.1.1
MONITORING OF FALL 
ARMYWORM 0
9.1.1.1
Take delivery of traps 
and pheromones for 
one year 0
9.1.1.2
Train AEAs and other Ag 
Extension Professionals 
on trap set ups, field 
scouting and data 
collection 0
9.1.1.3
Develop weekly and 
monthly maps to show 
trends of prevalence GIS Specialist 208 0
9.1.1.4
Share data with 
National Task Force -
formalise relations and 
ensure visibility TD/ES/GIS 0
9.1.1.5
Dissemination of 
information -
publishing/CABI
TD/ES/GIS/CABI/
PPRSD/SARI
5 stakeholder 
meetings 0
9.1.1.6
Linking with PPRSD/SARI 
for sustainability 0
9.1.1.7
Analyze pesticide 
residue levels on maize 
grains - in collaboration 
with Nestle
TD/ES/Nestle/AP
Os 1 Analysis 0
9.1.1.8
Expand monitoring to 
cover the whole country TD/ES 30 locations 30
84
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
9.1.2
FAW EDUCATION AND 
AWARENESS 0
9.1.2.1
Collaborate with CABI 
on video production and 
dissemination ICT/PR&C
1 video 
production 0
9.1.2.2
Radio panel discussions 
- MOFA staff and others ICT/RCs
31 radio 
discussions 0
9.1.2.3
Radio education 
through jingles and Live 
Presenter Mentions ICT/Procurement 19 Radio Stations 19
9.1.2.4
Include FAW in GAPs 
trainings TLP/APOs 0
9.1.2.5
Special training for OBs 
and OGs involved in 
outgrower schemes TLP/TMOs/APOs
3 Outgrower 
schemes 0
9.1.2.6
Include FAW awareness 
in all trainings and 
meetings - using posters 
and videos All 0
9.2
ESTABLISH A SYSTEM OF 
INFORMATION FOR 
FARMERS WHEN NEW 
PESTS/DISEASES ARE 
IDENTIFIED 0
9.2.1
ESTABLISH PESTICIDE 
OBSERVATION SITES 0
9.2.1.1
Set up observation 
fields in Kintampo and 
Northern Region using 
PERSUAP compliant 
products
TD/ES/APOs/FA
W Consultant
2 observation 
plots 0
9.2.1.2
Compile and analyse 
data from observation 
plots FAW Consultant 0
9.2.1.3
Develop pesticide 
prescriptions for 
farmers FAW Consultant
prescription 
developed 0
9.2.2
PEST AND DISEASE 
MANAGEMENT IN 
COLLABORATION WITH 
CABI 0
9.2.2.1
Train Field agents 
towards becoming Plant 
Doctors TD/ES/CABI 30 Field Agents 30
85
Activity Responsible Targets Path Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Target
9.2.2.2
Train Project Staff 
towards becoming Plant 
Doctors TD/ES/CABI 30 30
9.2.2.3
Establish coordination 
units in UE and UW ES/CABI 2 0
9.2.2.4
Promote activities of 
plant doctors - publicity 
materials such as baners 
etc TD/APOs 30 Promotions 0
9.2.2.5
Link plant doctors to 
PPRSD for technical 
support ES/CABI
30 linked to 
PPRSD 30
9.2.2.6
Support cluster 
meetings of plant 
doctors
RCs/ES/CABI/PP
RSD 12 meetings 12
9.2.2.7
Involve plant doctors in 
radio discussions
RCs/ES/CABI/PP
RSD 0
9.2.2.8
Organise plant clinics 
using Plant Doctors
RCs/ES/CABI/PP
RSD 0
86
Annex 2: Targets for 2018
Indicator/Disaggregation Baseline FY18 targets Achievements 
so far* LOP targets 
Number of direct project beneficiaries 75,000 122,134 113,000 
Male 41,250 64,064 62,150 
Female 33,750 58,070 50,850 
Number of private enterprises (for profit), 
producers organizations, water users 
associations, women's groups, trade and 
business associations, and community-based 
organizations (CBOs) receiving USG assistance
 450 
1,034 600 
Number of individuals who have received 
USG supported short-term agricultural sector 
productivity or food security trainings
 75,000 
111,775 100,000 
Male 41,250 56,698 55,000 
Female 33,750 55,077 45,000 
Value of agricultural and rural loans $800,000 $3,896,648 $4,300,000
Value of new private sector investment in 
agricultural sector or value chain (US$) $800,000 $3,577,987 $4,000,000
Gross margins per hectare for selected crops 
US Dollar under marketing arrangements 
fostered by the activity (USD/ha)
Maize $800 $845 $800
Male $ 
276.34 $790 $850 $790
Female $ 
288.84 $840 $840 $840
Rice $1,350 $828 $1,350
Male $ 
258.58 $1,400 $867 $1,400
Female $ 
249.17 $1,250 $760 $1,250
Soy $650 $678 $650
Male $ 
315.02 $700 $789 $700
Female $ 
212.18 $600 $483 $600
Number of hectares under improved 
technologies or management practices as a 
result of USG assistance
 72,000 131,252 281,600 
Male 39,600 89,531 157,505 
Female 32,400 41,721 124,095 
Number of farmers and others who have 
applied new technologies or management 
practices as a result of USG assistance
91.16%** 72,000 85,363 101,700 
Male 90.41%** 39,600 46,548 55,935 
Female 99.28%** 32,400 39,091 45,765 
87
Indicator/Disaggregation Baseline FY18 targets Achievements 
so far* LOP targets 
Number of private enterprises (for profit), 
producers organizations, water users 
associations, women's groups, trade and 
business associations, and community-based 
organizations (CBOs) that applied new 
technologies or management practices as a 
result of USG assistance
 338 483 450 
Value of incremental sales (collected at farm￾level) attributed to FTF implementation $ 17,880,000 $33,657,429*** $ 63,680,000 
Number of firms (excluding farms) or Civil 
Society Organizations (CSOs) engaged in 
agricultural and food security-related 
manufacturing and services now operating 
more profitably (at or above cost) because of 
USG assistance
 100 123 100 
Number of organizations/ enterprises 
identified as high potential for future awards 7 1 7 
Number of organizations/ enterprises 
receiving capacity building support against 
key milestones
 50 10 50 
Number of awards made directly to local 
organizations by USAID 5 1 5 
Number of value chain actors accessing 
finance 225 113 300 
*As of July 31, 2017
**Percent of farmers and other that applied one or more technology
***2016 season sales are not included, they are currently being collected
88
www.feedthefuture.org