When 2SCALE introduced dry card for reducing moisture in crop produce.

A Dry Card technology, which is to solve post-harvest losses and management of grains, has been introduced to input dealers, farmers, and small-scale agribusiness enterprises in Bolgatanga.
The promotion of the dry card technology is Towards Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning and Entrepreneurship (2SCALE), an organization focused on establishing agribusiness clusters with the essence to ensure food security, good nutrition, and sustainability.
Mr. Jalil Zakaria, country Team Leader of 2SCALE, said his outfit tailored its intervention in the food value chains, emphasizing animal protein, poultry, small ruminants, honey, and staple crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, cassava, orange flesh sweet potato, and oil seed, driven by business cases.
He noted that most farmers have challenges with determining moisture meter before harvest and storage, and above all, the cost of tools for checking moisture content in grains was not available for farmers. Where available, they were expensive for any one farmer to afford.
According to him, 2SCALE had worked well in four Francophone and four Anglophone countries and added that the first phase of implementation of 2SCALE was between 2012 and 2018, and the new phase of 5 years is between 2019 to 2023.
2SCALE is expected to incubate and accelerate agribusiness clusters around business champions in the food value chains with three-dimensional elements, which entail small enterprises and producer organizations to become professionals and self-sustaining in the development of products and access to markets.
Mr. Zakari said 2SCALE had plans to improve the livelihoods of 750,000 smallholders, of which 50 percent would be women and engage 40 percent youth.
According to him, the organization would link 5,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises, develop 60 private and public partnerships in all 2SCALE companies in Ghana, with the overall objective of including businesses by improving access to good nutrition and improving livelihoods.
Mr. Bukari said 2SCALE impacted well with the implementation of the Dry Card in eight countries and four Francophone countries, especially in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, and four Anglophone countries, namely; Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya, and indicated that the successful experiences in those countries could be replicated in Ghana.
Mr. Clifford Yeboah-Manson said promoters of the Dry Card technology, who provided information on ways the Dry Card works, indicated that the card contained a cobalt strip and, when placed in grains at an airtight level, dries up produce within 60 minutes.
Mr. Manson added that only agro-input dealers would be provided the Dry Card for distribution and sales to interested farmers and agricultural business enterprises.
2SCALE is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the interventions are carried out by a consortium of organizations, including the Bop Innovation Centre (Bo Pinc), The International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), SNV (a Dutch organization), and the Department of Inclusive Green Growth of the Directorate General of International Cooperation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS).
Credit: GhanaWeb