HortiFresh’s motto is: “Healthy and quality fruits and vegetables through new ways of doing business”. The goal of HortiFresh is to develop: “A sustainable and internationally competitive fruit and vegetable sector that contributes to inclusive economic growth, food and nutrition security”.

Under the HortiFresh umbrella of activities a number of innovative business ideas can be accommodated that support this mission. The Innovation Fund aims at mobilizing innovations and investments that address key gaps in the vegetable sector. Companies or consortia of companies can apply for €100,000 grant funding within a 50% co-funding arrangement (i.e. the total project value can be a maximum of €200,000).

This Call for Concept Notes addresses the eminent gap of quality inputs and agronomic services in the vegetable sector and solicits concept notes from companies or consortia of companies that want to invest in: the introduction of new inputs (e.g. seeds, crop protection products, irrigation, etc.) as well as professional agronomic services, that target small and medium-scale commercial vegetable farmers.

This is the first Call for Concept Notes under the HortiFresh programme. Other Calls for new value-chain and market arrangements will be supported, as well as Calls targeting the fruit sector. The application process is divided into two phases:

• Concept note phase: Interested parties are invited to develop a concept note. An independent selection committee will assess all concept notes that pass the minimum criteria.
• Full proposal phase: Once a concept note has been approved by the Selection Committee the applicant will be requested to develop a full proposal.

Within the vegetable sector much research has been carried out in Ghana over the past years[1], both within the GhanaVeg programme as well as outside. The main conclusions of these studies are threefold:

• Input supply forms one of the greatest limiting factors to productivity increase and in particular the lack of: well adapted high-yielding and disease resistant varieties, adequate pesticides, affordable irrigation equipment and well-adapted greenhouse technology.
• Related to this is the judicious selection and use of these inputs by farmers. This requires either the outsourcing of the application of inputs to specialized support services, or high quality and affordable extension and advisory services for commercial farmers.
• There is a dominance in the value-chain of vegetable wholesalers and wet market outlets. The development of alternative market channels that involve more direct relations between the producers and wholesalers of vegetables offers opportunities.

This Call invites (consortia of) companies that address the first two constraints: input supply and agronomic services. Examples of inputs and services that HortiFresh would like to stimulate are:

• Increasing the availability and accessibility of well-adapted, high-yielding vegetable varieties. At the moment the majority of vegetable farmers are using recycled and OP varieties of vegetable crops like tomatoes, onions, chili peppers and cabbage; while much better quality seed of hybrid varieties is available. HortiFresh is looking for proposals that will test and introduce the best available vegetable varieties to Ghana, and promotes the uptake of them by smallholder farmers.
• Increasing the availability of low risk crop protection products and the judicious use of them. The current range of crop protection products is very narrow. For insecticides, 8-9 Modes of Actions are registered in the country, with 3 to 5 Modes of Actions present at wholesalers and only 2 or 3 at agrodealer shops. For fungicides the situation is similar, with 2-3 Modes of Action present at wholesaler level and 1-2 at agrodealer shops. HortiFresh wants to invite pesticide companies (including those involved in biopesticides) and their distributers to introduce new low risk crop protection products to the market, and increase their availability and uptake.
• The judicious application of pesticides, for instance through professional spray services, that comply with high standards of pesticide efficiency, spray intervals and personal protection. The outsourcing of pesticide spraying could provide good opportunities for youth and might require standardized training and certification.
• The production of strong seedlings can increase the uptake of hybrid vegetable varieties. HortiFresh believes that there is a business opportunity to start professional nurseries in key vegetable growing hotspots. Collaboration can be sought with (international) seed companies and distributors that have a stake in ensuring maximum germination takes place of their expensive (hybrid) seeds.
• Many new small-scale irrigation solutions are available in the market, with solar powered pumps and drip kits being at the forefront now. The fund can provide support to irrigation equipment providers in the after sales support of the kits; looking at training activities in the field of equipment maintenance and agronomy.
• For both protected, irrigated and rainfed production there is a great need for professional extension and advisory services that can assist the commercial farmer. In GhanaVeg much attention has been paid to improving the skills of senior agronomists. HortiFresh wants to take this activity to the next level and aim at establishing professional private extension services – run by qualified agronomists. The business opportunity is that commercial farms and agricultural projects are increasingly willing to pay for external support. In addition, more and more online services (e.g. specialized apps) are available that can be used in advising and coaching vegetable farmers.

This Call for Concept Notes therefore invites both domestic and foreign companies to develop a proposal for HortiFresh co-financing that contributes to one or more of the following objectives:

• Increase access and availability of key horticultural inputs for smallholder farmers.
• Supports healthy and quality vegetable production, taking into account sustainable environmental and food safety standards.
• Provide professional services in the field of judicious use of pesticides, the production of seedlings and/or the aftersales support of small-scale irrigation equipment.
• Establish innovative private extension services, that support commercial farmers and companies in increasing their productivity and quality.

Organizations soliciting co-financing support under HortiFresh should be:

• Legally recognized companies or organizations that represent companies (like associations or foundations), and must have demonstrated a sound operational track record of at least two years. Eligible organizations can be based in Ghana and outside of Ghana.
• Target vegetable crops include, but are not exclusive to: tomatoes, onions, cabbages, carrot, capsicum, okra, eggplant, gourds, lettuce, cucumbers and other Asian vegetables, as well as spices and herbs.
• Concept Notes address the arrangements and issues as presented in this Call.

The above criteria are minimum criteria and will be pre-screened upon submission by the HortiFresh Secretariat. If not complied with, the application will be immediately rejected.

HortiFresh favours concept notes that:

• Engage a large number of commercial smallholder farmers active in the vegetable sector.
• Work with women and youth in their activities, and address specific nutrition issues that can be solved through the consumption of vegetables.
• Consortia that include a number of private sector actors that closely work together on addressing the objectives of the Call.

50% Co-financing from HortiFresh can be used for project costs that are additional to the core operations of the company. These include:

• Farm extension and training activities (service provision).
• Additional staff for the company (implementing project activities).
• Capital investments like vehicles, training centres or demo farms.
• Trials and registration costs for new products.
• Development of training materials and software.

The 50% co-financing of the applicant needs to be in cash for at least 50% (25% of the total project value); the other 50% can be through in kind support, e.g. through the involvement of own staff for the project. Project costs cannot be used for core business operations and expenditures like farm inputs, casual labour and utilities. In addition to the grant support, HortiFresh can provide additional technical support from well experienced agronomists and can actively facilitate linkage of the company to other chain actors (buyers, agrodealers, farmers).

The concept notes need to be developed in accordance with the format as provided on the HortiFresh website. A maximum of three concept notes can be approved under this Call for Concept Notes. Selected concept notes will be invited to develop a full project proposal.

Selection Criteria

After passing the minimum criteria, an independent selection committee will evaluate the applications on the basis of relevance and technical approach (20%); innovativeness (20%), economic feasibility (20%), implementation capacity (20%), and inclusive business approach (20%). These criteria are further explained below:

Relevance and technical approach (20%)

The concept note should address the objectives and constraints as presented in the Call. The proposed solutions should be technically feasible and have logical linkages between the project’s activities and expected outputs.

Innovativeness (20%)

The proposed products or services need to be innovative and scalable. The concept note needs to show how the activities are new to the Ghanaian market and how the approach can be scaled up after the life of the project.

Economic feasibility (20%)

The concept note needs to include a strategy on how the project can be made self-sustainable and profitable in the short to medium term. The concept note needs to provide sufficient quantitative data to demonstrate this. This criterion also reviews to what extent the anticipated project costs are eligible for funding, and how the in-cash and in-kind contributions are accounted for.

Implementation capacity (20%)

The extent to which the applicant and her institution/company is capable of undertaking and accomplishing the proposed activities, based principally on the company profile and the qualifications of key staff being involved in the project.

Inclusive business approach (20%)

The criterium assesses to what extent the proposed activity is likely to have meaningful, sustainable impact and demonstrates inclusiveness of women, youth and/or small-scale farmers.

Companies are requested to elaborate further on the above criteria, making clear projections on:

• Targeted farmers and farm workers (both directly and indirectly)
• Improved sustainability (environment/food safety) at farm level
• Inclusion of women, youth and/or nutrition
• Productivity and income increase of targeted farmers and farm workers
• Company sales and turnover

Concept notes need to be submitted before 10 October, 5 pm Ghana time. Concept notes should include:

• A scanned cover letter signed by the legal representative of the organization
• The concept note, in line with the concept note format
• A scanned copy of the organization’s registration certificate

All documents need to be addressed and sent to HortiFresh by e-mail: [email protected]

[1] E.g. IFPRI, 2018, Competitiveness of tomato, onion, carrot and scotch bonnet production in Ghana (Kolavalli et al); GhanaVeg Business Opportunities Report, 2016 . See Reports