The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, with support from OXFAM Ghana, organised a capacity-building workshop for members of the association convened from the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and the North East regions. In attendance were members of the association, officials from the regional department of Agriculture, Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) and the media. The workshop aimed to build the capacities of PFAG aggregators on business management to enhance their business operations for active participation in the Planting for Food and Jobs Phase 2 and other business interventions.
In commencing the session, the PFAG regional focal person of the Upper East region, Mr. Isaac Pabia, welcomed participants drawing attention to the need to build the capacities of members of the association on managing their businesses to take up opportunities within the public or private space. He encouraged members to develop best practices to improve their farming businesses to ensure their business grow and expand. Mr. Bismark Owusu Nortey, the Executive director, Acting of PFAG reiterated the need for members to undergo capacity building in the area of improving their knowledge and skills to grow their businesses. He urged participants to be actively involved in the session, sharing concerns for redress.
In a presentation by Mr. Thomas Akum, a representative from the Upper East regional department of agriculture, highlighted the overview of the government intervention “Planting for Food and Jobs Phase Two (PFJ II) and the modalities involved. He indicated that due to some challenges faced in the initial government program, the intervention was modified to focus on improving farmer’s access to credit for production as well as other essential facilities such as storage, distribution, and ready market for food commodities. The key actors involved in the program were also outlined stressing that the program is built on an aggregator model where the aggregator plays a paramount role. The aggregator is responsible for providing all the needed inputs requested by the farmer on credit, while ensuring full credit recovery to sustain the program. He emphasized that aggregators are required to formalize their businesses in order to meet the requirement for aggregator selection. In addition, encouraged female aggregators to take up the role of aggregator since a minute number were involved.
Madam Naomi Panwum from the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) presented on the forms of business units, the processes involved in registering businesses and the role of the GEA. The agency plays the role of promoting and developing small and medium businesses. She stated all businesses must meet the requirement of registration with the Registrar General Department (RGD) to be legally recognized. Owners of businesses accrue benefits such as business branding, attracting business investors and as well accessing support for businesses including financial resources. Participants were encouraged to register their businesses to achieve the associated benefit of growing and expanding business operations.
Various forms of business ownerships were outlined with its associated advantages and disadvantages of the business forms. The common business forms discussed were sole proprietorship, partnership and Limited Liability Company. Under sole proprietorship, business is owned and managed by an individual and is the easiest form of business to establish. Similarly, businesses registered under partnership law are owned and managed by two or more people who contribute capital resources to operate the business. With limited liability company, the business comprise of group of individuals with business being a separate legal entity from its owners.
In concluding, participants were encouraged to consider the type of business ownership based on the associated benefits and challenges involved and endeavour to register their businesses with the registrar general department to gain a legal entity. With the presence of the GEA in all regions, participants were advised to visit the offices for further enquiries and procedures for formalising their business in order to benefit from business opportunities.