Finding Value in Maize: ATP helps young graduate find opportunities in West Africa trade

When Elorm Goh graduated with a sociology degree from the University of Ghana in 2006, no one expected her to look for a job in the agriculture in-dustry, particularly as an international trader. After all, recent university graduates seldom see agriculture as a burgeoning industry. But Elorm’s frequent trips to one of the larger markets in Accra, Ghana, piqued her in-terest in the industry, and she soon became a member of the Ghana Agri-cultural Producers and Traders Organization (GAPTO) in hopes of starting her own business.

As a representative of GAPTO, Elorm attended ATP’s Maize Value Chain Assessment Validation workshop in November 2008 and quickly found the value in trade. The workshop brought together more than 50 value chain stakeholders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Niger to address the constraints and barriers to West Africa trade.

Trade between African countries has traditionally been minimal because of the poor linkages between buyers and investors. By connecting producers to buyers, the workshop has enabled stakeholders, such as Elorm, to ac-tively participate in the international maize trade. After the workshop, Elorm further developed her contacts by visiting Techiman and Ejura, the maize producing zones in Ghana, and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), one of Ghana’s net importers of maize in West Africa. Maize, one of the key sta-ple food crops in West Africa, plays a major role in food security. Its pro-duction as both a subsistence food and a cash crop has increased in recent years to meet the growing demands from industries as well as do-mestic consumers across the region.

“Though I was new in the trade, it became easy for me because of the ex-posure I had at ATP’s workshop,” she said. Elorm has already organized and supplied 750 metric tons of maize with a gross value of $225,000 to a maize processing company in Burkina Faso. Determined to establish her-self as a key player in the maize industry, both locally and internationally, Elorm secured a warehouse in Abissi, a town located in the maize produc-ing zone in Ghana, and set up an office in Accra in anticipation of supplying at least 2,000 metric tons to international buyers by the end of 2009.

“When I tell my colleagues that I buy and sell maize, they become sur-prised because they think a graduate should not do that. But I think the industry has the potential to expand and create value for its players,” she said.