How dried fruits can help Ghanaian farmers

DW (English)

Innovation should solve real problems and help people rise. Emmanuel Ampadu saw Ghanaian farmers losing food and income, so he built a fix from scratch with dried fruits.

Transcript

00:00In Ghana, fruit doesn't just grow, it disappears.

00:04Every year, thongs of mangoes, pineapples and bananas rot before they are ever eaten.

00:10But what if waste could become wealth and snacks could change lives?

00:15Well, service losses matter because in Ghana, two years ago, I think two mango seasons,

00:2150% of the mangoes that were harvested were all destroyed.

00:25And it's painful when a farmer works very hard and is unable to get markets for their produce

00:30and they have to lose it due to lack of storage or it being a bumper harvest.

00:35So that is why it matters to Pure and Just very well, to be able to absorb this,

00:38to create value for farmers, in the same time creating value for customers.

00:44For Emmanuel Ampedu, food isn't just nutrition, it's opportunity.

00:49Together with Yvette Tete, they set out to rewrite the story of Ghana's harvest,

00:54one dried fruit at a time.

00:56The issue of post-harvest loss in Ghana is very big.

00:58Food production is declining.

01:00So for fruits like the tropical food that we grow, when it's ripening

01:04and you don't have market, automatically it will go bad.

01:06Harvesting methods are also very bad, so some will go bad.

01:10Farmer Williams, the CEO of Moringa Connect, introduced me to Yvette,

01:13my current business partner, who had come from the U.S.

01:16She had completed Stanford University and wanted to do farming.

01:18But then she realized the problem in Ghana was not the farming, but value addition,

01:22which also ties into post-harvest loss.

01:24Because we get abundant and we are not able to add value to it.

01:28And so she started drying fruits in her auntie's kitchen.

01:30And when we met, she said we should merge and start drying fruits.

01:34And we started drying fruits.

01:35And through that, we've been able to generate a lot of income for farmers,

01:38which in turn, we can trace it to us solving the issue of post-harvest losses,

01:43especially for mangoes.

01:46Emmanuel Ampedu grew up watching farmers lose their harvest to spoilage.

01:50This made him have the idea to turn that loss into an opportunity.

01:54Not only are we youth-driven, not only are we women-led, but we are climate smart.

01:58And this theory comes together to create the financial means for young people,

02:03women, as we are mindful of the environment,

02:06to just transform tropical fruits into dried-free snacks and sell,

02:10which gives them financial means to realize their dreams.

02:13So she and I shared the same vision and had a common vision for this business.

02:18And then we started, and here we are.

02:21Turning fresh fruits into shelf-stable snacks wasn't easy.

02:25Machines were expensive, farmers were skeptical,

02:28and imported products dominated the market.

02:30But Emmanuel believed in local power and local flavor.

02:34Emmanuel Ampedu and I have had challenges.

02:36When we came into the business, there were bigger fruit processing companies.

02:40So we don't go to the farmers and say, you are coming to solve your problem of post-service.

02:43No. We go and say that, how can both of us sit together to mutually solve the problem of

02:48post-service losses? And proximity of the technician coming to work on your machine,

02:53if you have any problems or to maintain it, is a problem.

02:55And I also say that when we started dried fruit, you know, it wasn't common to the typical Ghanaian.

03:01The breakthrough came when they found a way to cut spoilage in half and boost farmer incomes by 40%.

03:06Sadly, Ghana's fruit wasn't just fresh, it was global.

03:11We are one of the first locally made dried fruit companies to sell in most of the retail shops.

03:17You know, currently we've been selling in the airlines Emirates,

03:20which I think is a big achievement for a Ghanaian-owned dried fruit made locally

03:24to be selling in all these shops and even in the airlines.

03:27So our production process, you go to the farmers, look for them, source the fruits.

03:31When the fruits are ready, they communicate to you.

03:33They confirm the sugar levels of the fruit. We transport it from the farm to the factory.

03:40And after that, they wash, they weigh, we peel the fruits, we cut them, we arrange them on trays,

03:46we dry them, we bring them out, we package them, then it goes to the customer.

03:51And we receive a lot of emails on why they are not wearing gloves.

03:55It's because over here, this is the final packaging.

03:58And if they wear gloves, and by mistake, they cut the glove and it falls on the product

04:04and it's bagged and somebody consumes it, it creates all sorts of issues.

04:08And so because of that, we have strict hygiene protocols for hand washing, hand sanitizing,

04:14so that that issue will not happen.

04:17So three ways we create value for the farmer, for our staff, our workers, who are our rock stars,

04:22and then for the customer, who gets their daily dose of fresh fruits.

04:27Today, Pure and Just food isn't just a business, it's a movement, a new kind of snack.

04:33Healthy, local and stylish. Because eating well should feel good and do good.

04:39Prior to collaborating with Pure and Just, we had post-harvest losses hovering around 45%.

04:46We've been able to reduce our post-harvest losses to below 10%.

04:49We've also been able to increase our workforce from five individuals to over 25 individuals.

04:55That's an additional 20 employment opportunities that we've created in rural Ghana.

05:00It's time that a lot of young people joined the train, you know.

05:04The future of agribusiness is value addition.

05:06From farm to factory to your fingertips, Emmanuel and Yvette prove that food can be more than

05:13sustenance. In Ghana, it can be a future worth building.

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