USAID, Nestle Partner to Reduce Maize Mycotoxins in Ghana

Nestle signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement Program (ADVANCE) on Dec. 6 to train 113,000 farmers in Ghana by 2018 in an effort to boost the quality of grains grown in the country. Specifically, the joint effort seeks to reduce levels of mycotoxins in maize crops grown in the African nation.

“USAID-ADVANCE supports farmers to increase their productivity and improve access to high end markets,” said Emmanuel Dormon, chief of party for USAID-ADVANCE, in a press release issued by the Swiss food company announcing the partnership. “Thus, we see this collaboration with Nestle as an excellent opportunity and motivation for the smallholder farms to further improve their agronomic and post-harvest management practices to meet the quality requirements of high end industrial users.”

At an event inaugurating the partnership, Nestle Ghana managing director Freda Duplan said Nestle has expressed a commitment to increasing local sourcing of grains in an effort dubbed the Nestle Cereal Plan.

The plan “aims at enabling farmers to produce better quality grain which will generate higher revenue for them and improve their livelihood,” said Nestle in the release. “The quality grain which is used by the company as ingredient for its products, will also be used to feed their families and this will help in ensuring food safety for the farmers and their families, for the community, and for the consumers.”

USAID and Nestle will jointly work to expand the capacity of farmers and aggregators in three northern regions of Ghana, primarily focusing on maize. The agency will train selected participants on agronomic, post-harvest protocols, and good storage practices developed by the Swiss company to curb levels of mycotoxins in its upstream value chain.

Nestle Ghana said its factory in Tema sources 100% of its cereals from local farmers.

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