2027 Budget must address farmers’ value chain challenges — Dedeyao Farms CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of Dedeyao Farms, Daniel Asimadi, has called on the government to provide stronger financial and institutional support to farmers, warning that commercial agriculture remains difficult to sustain when producers are left to rely largely on their own resources. He said farmers often bore the greatest burden in the agricultural value chain, investing heavily in land preparation, cultivation and other production activities, but had limited control over the marketing and distribution of their produce.

That imbalance, he said, made it difficult for farmers to earn returns that reflected the resources and effort invested in production. Speaking on the PM Express programme on Joy News on Wednesday, November 11, ahead of the presentation of the 2027 Budget by the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Mr Asimadi said the government needed to create conditions that would enable farmers to expand their operations and compete effectively.

He explained that at Dedeyao Farms, the decision to concentrate on farming meant the company did not directly handle the marketing of its produce, leaving it exposed to the influence of intermediaries and other market operators. “Handling the value chain is always a difficult thing,” he said, explaining that farmers could face considerable challenges when they were unable to take their produce directly to the market.

He said producers who did not have the capacity to manage marketing and distribution themselves were often left at the mercy of other players in the chain. Mr Asimadi said farmers could make significant investments in production, but there was a limit to what individual effort could achieve without an enabling environment and support from the state and other institutions.

He said the challenge was particularly severe for operators seeking to undertake agriculture on a large commercial scale, which required substantial financial resources. “The farmers are always at a disadvantage position, especially when you look at the amount of resources you have to put into farming if you want to do it on a large-scale commercial level,” he said.

Call for financial support Mr Asimadi said government support should extend beyond encouraging people to produce crops to addressing the financial and market-related constraints that prevented farmers from building sustainable businesses. He urged financial institutions and other organisations capable of supporting the agricultural sector to work with farmers to provide the resources needed to expand production.

He cautioned that farmers who attempted to finance large-scale operations entirely from their personal funds risked running into difficulties and might struggle to remain in business. “If you don’t get them to support you and you want to do it on your pocket, you can’t survive,” he said. His comments come as the government prepares to outline its economic priorities and spending plans for 2027.

The Budget is expected to provide an indication of how the government intends to support agriculture and agribusiness, including measures to improve access to finance, strengthen market linkages and encourage investment in commercial production. For farmers such as Mr Asimadi, the challenge is not simply increasing output but ensuring that producers have the financial backing and market access needed to benefit from their work.

He said a supportive environment, backed by government, financial institutions and other relevant bodies, was essential if commercial farming was to expand and become sustainable.