What is the demand for mangoes and cashews?
Mango-growing nations exported over five times as much mangoes in 2010 as they did in 2001. This owes to a growing global population, and
increased demand from nations where the mango cannot be grown, such as the United States and European countries.
As for cashews, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire are among the top five producers of the nut worldwide. These countries are Ghana’s neighbors. The only
thing keeping Ghana from joining these countries is viable farmland, which is exactly what this campaign seeks to develop.
How has Yeboah secured its farmland?
The equipment secured by this campaign will be available for use by small producers of mangoes, cashews, and maize. This allows us to cover more
climatically diverse territory, and put more money back into the hands of these farmers. As it stands now, we have over 607 acres of prime farmland
slated for this project.
Who will be served by this campaign?
Over 4 million people in Ghana’s rural population live below the poverty line – some 39% of the rural population, and 28% of the nation. Life is hard for
these people. Many have been making a living by processing fruit that has been airlifted in from other countries. These circumstances have existed
because not enough local farmland has been developed for agriculture – until now.
What will be the effects of growing more mangoes in Ghana?
Ghana is essentially paying to stay in business as a mango and cashew processor. To meet orders from our buyers, we make up the difference by
airlifting in fruits from Mali, South Africa, and Brazil. Though this practice helps us keep our clients, it’s not a sustainable long-term solution. Getting
Ghana to produce more of the food it processes benefits the farmers, the producers, and the national economy. Employing local growers and
processors means bringing Ghana’s rural population out of poverty – something we are prepared to do on a large scale.
Why crowdfunding?
Though we think our idea has merit, resources from organizations which give large grants are limited, especially at the local and national level. Getting
small contributors to work together is the business model for our farm operation, and, we believe, will serve us well at this stage too.
What makes Yeboah different from other farms?
We have superior maize production technology that can allow local producers to increase their output. We cover more ground with our land holdings,
so we can custom-build a season’s crops according to what grows best where. We are a culturally-aware and technologically-advanced company with
the good of the country in mind, and know what can be done when we put our resources together.
What is the breakdown of the cost?
11,000 for four head Tatu planter from Brazil.
13,000 mini corn harvester from China
11,000 corn shelled meant to shell corn from the cob
15,000 for mango and cashew nut seedlings sold at $1.00 per seedling.
5k cashew nut seedlings sold will be planted on a 100 acres in 2 years
10k mango seedlings will be planted on a 200 acre land within 2 years
$100,000 earmarked for caterpillar excavator 320DL model. Since Ghana has a tropical climate the land for farming is mostly Forrest with a lot of big
trees, which needs to be uprooted to prepare the land for planting. That is the most challenging aspect of the farming project.
The excavator will be offered to small holder farmers in the community to expand the acres of land they usually cultivated averaging from 5 acres to
about 20 acres or more. Yeboah International Farm is in with 300 small holder farmers who will expand their farm lands to 20
acres or more to cultivate mangoes and cashew with maize since land in this farm area is good for these crops, covering 6,000 acres of farm land.
This will provide part time and full time jobs for jobs for the youth in these communities including women. Thereby increasing their income and food
production for the poor.
Through the value chain over 3500 people will be employed from planting, nurturing to harvesting processing and selling.
The harvest timeline for maize is 3 months within the year. These are 2 farming seasons:
First one-starts in May and ends in July
Second season starts. In August and ends in November. Since 3 hundred acres will be used to cultivate maize for every 100 acres of land, it is
anticipated over 2,000 bags of maize will be harvested to taking 6,000 bags every year.
Yeboah International Farm will be employing about 500 workers in the field both full time and part time from planting, nurturing, processing and selling.
Mangoes and cashew nuts mature to be harvested during the fourth year after being planted from seeding.
The contribution will help establish our goals and also donate maize to 100 orphanages selected across Ghana. Yeboah International Farm owns 607
acres of land through purchasing it.