Projects & Programmes
Agribusiness Innovation Hub – iHub
The Agribusiness Innovation Hub (iHub) is technically designed to create the desired Agribusiness growth environment with pool of innovations for the youth to develop successful Agrienterprises. It leads a green Agriculture revolution in Ghana.
Youth interested in becoming Agrienterprenurs will have the opportunity to pitch their Agribusiness proof of concepts and start-up’s at the iHub, to be nurtured into successful Agrienterprises.
The target population are: youth interested in taking to Agribusiness, young Agrienterprenurs, young farmer co-operatives, Agrienterprises at various stages of development, financial institutions, produce buying companies, Angel investors, farming communities, Agribusiness service providers, etc.
At the iHub they have access to: Agribusiness coacing, mentorship, Agribusiness branding, town hall Agribusiness policy dialogue, Angel investment opportunities, market access, matchmaking, precision Agriculture technologies, Agri-apprentiship, value chain leverages, etc.
Its implementation is committed to addressing Ghana’s surging youth unemployment and food insecurity leading to an increased food import bill. 40% of the iHub has been developed in to a Limited Liability company to enable us raise the needed funding and technical resources for its sustainance.
60% of the iHub has been developed in to a social enterprise that has over the years attracted various development partners e.g. MoFA, USADF, IREX, SALSA Project, CTA, etc for youth in Agriculture development in Ghana.
The iHub have so far supported 520 young farmers in Northern Ghana leading to their establishment of successful farm enterprises. On average, it host 50 young Agrienterprenurs a week for Agribusiness coaching. It has also facilitated the development of 250 viable Agriculture value chains, that provides the leverages needed for the establishment of successful Agrienterprises.
The iHub is therefore innovatively addressing Ghana’s challenge of engaging the youth in Agribusiness, to effectively utilize the nations rich Agriculture land araea of 14,038,224 hectares with only 7,847,300 hectares used.
We remain committed to nurtuing transformational young Agribusiness leaders, for Ghana’s accellerated Agriculture development.
SavaNet Farm Enterprise
With funding from USADF under the Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI), SavaNet-Ghana is implementing the SavaNet Farm Enterprise project. It is a commercial farming initiative designed to increase our production capacity from 50% to 80%.
We have therefore increased our farmland size from 70 to 100 hectares under four (4) commercial farms. With its adoption of smart precision Agriculture technologies, the project is leading precision Agriculture development in Ghana.
The project’s adoption of climate smart production practices, has led to the establishment of climate smart farms that serve as model farms for farmer training. It also champions the development of farmer led Agriculture value chains, thus creating the desired leverages for the development of our farm enterprises.
An essential component of the project is its innovative farmer-farmer Agriculture Advisory service, that promote peer learning and the exchange of best practices.
It has so far benefited 550 young outgrower farmers, thus providing them the leverages required to establish viable farm enterprises. The implementation of the project is therefore contributing immensely in securing Ghana’s food security and in addressing its surging youth unemployment.
Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security (SALSA) Project
The Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Susutainable Food Security (SALSA) Project is an EU-Africa 17 member Research consortium, among which SavaNet-Ghana is the only farmer Development Organization from Africa.
It is designed to meet the significant intellectual and practical challenge of developing a better understanding of the current and practical contribution of small farms and food businesses to Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) in an increasingly globalized and uncertain world.
It is a Four (4) year project which started implementation in 2016, following a Kick-off meeting at the University of Evora Portugal.
The specific objectives of the SALSA project are:
1.To thoroughly assess the current role of small farms and small food businesses in achieving sustainable Food and Nurition Security (FNS) in Europe and in selected African Regions.
2.To evaluate the means by which small farms can respond to the expected increase in demand for food, feed and fibre of an increasing population in an increasingly resource constrain world.
3.To assess the capacity of small farms and small food businesses to contribute to FNS under alternative future scenarios for 2030/50, and to identify the main determinants of the capacity to respond.
4.To help better tailor International Cooperation (in particular EU-Africa) and Research and to develop tools to guide decision makers in enhancing the role of small farms in FNS.
5.To establlish a community of practice and to enhance the use of FAO’s TECA platform as well as European Networks and platforms such as the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD), The European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD) and the European Innovation Partnership Agricultural productivity and sustainablity (EIP.Agri) in order to strengthen the voice of small farmers in the global debate on FNS.
The 17 member EU-Africa consortium is coordinated by the University of Evora in Portugal. Other implementing partners are: University of Pisa (UNIPI) in Italy, Nodibinajums Baltic Studies Centre (BSC) in Latvia, The James Hutton Institute (JHI) in UK, Norwegian Centre of Rural Research (CRR) in Norway, Highclere Consulting S.R.L in Romania, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) in Spain, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Susutainable Market group (IIED) in UK and the Agricultural University of Arthens.
Other implementing partners are: University of Cape Verde, the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Ghana, Africa Centre for Technology Studies (ACT) in Kenya, Africa Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) in Kenya, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Italy, Federation of Italian Farmers (COLDIRETTI), and Uniwersytet Rolniczyim.Hugona Kollataja w krakowie in Poland.