Author name: Dr Maxwell Ampong

The emergence of the novel COVID-19 virus pandemic has claimed over 4.5 million lives globally and still counting. In addition to the public health impact of the COVID-19 virus, it also severely impacted many economies across the world. As a result, many business activities in many countries have been disrupted. The impact of the virus has been severe and widespread across firms, with many enterprises facing varying degrees of losses (Apedo-Amah et al., 2020).  According to Shafi et al. (2020), it is clear that firms / enterprises worldwide are experiencing the significant impact of the pandemic on their businesses. Their findings reveal that small enterprises are even more severely affected by the pandemic compared to large enterprises.  As most economies are coming out and recovering from the pandemic, many enterprises are also doing the same. One of the critical things businesses and enterprises need most in this current dispensation is capital or funding. Thus, raising funds or capital in this era is exceptionally vital for businesses across the globe.  The global GDP growth rate in 2020 fell by 3.3% as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to the developed countries, most of the enterprises in developing countries are Small and Medium-Size enterprises (SMEs). These forms of businesses or enterprises are an integral part of the global economy. They are the economic backbone of most developing countries; they are the major source of employment and contribute substantially to growth.  As indicated by Shafi et al. (2020), small enterprises are more severely affected by the negative impact of pandemic compared to large enterprises. Because they constitute a sizable proportion of the economy, this directly becomes the cause of the decline in growth of these economies.  According to Taneja et al. (2016), SME’s are kinds of enterprises that are more flexible. They tend to adapt themselves to the changing economic situations, thereby allowing them to navigate through the economic downturns. Still, there have been severe downturns. Governments all over the world are reviving their economies and businesses are following suit, also reviving their operations. As a matter of fact, the recovery of economies globally is also largely contingent on the recovery of businesses or enterprises, especially SMEs. One thing that is vital for businesses and enterprises to revive their activities is funding. Funding is the lifeline of any business, and raising funding in this period is crucial for business enterprises to expand their activities and translate into the economy’s growth. Prior to the COVID-19 crises, businesses, especially SMEs, those in developing countries, find it difficult to finance themselves through retained earnings. Also, one of the main challenges hindering the growth of many businesses in developing economies has to do with getting access to funds or credit. The World Bank Enterprise Surveys of 119 developing countries indicated that lack of access to credit is a major obstacle to enterprises, especially start-ups.  Other studies have also found access to credit to be a major challenge facing SMEs in developing countries such as Ghana over the years (Abor & Biekpe, 2007; Mensah et al., 2019; Quartey et al., 2017).  High cost of borrowing, collateral requirement, limited availability of long-term loan facilities, and limited avenues of raising credit are some of the factors responsible for the challenges of raising capital or credit.  Moreover, post the emergence of the pandemic, it even more difficult for business and enterprises to raise funds because the pandemic hit the sources as well. There still have been avenues businesses are using to raise funding in this pandemic. Bank loans or loans from savings and loan institutions are the most widely used source of finance for businesses in developing economies. Especially in Ghana, most SMEs have to rely on banks for financing. Likewise, most small businesses also look to savings and loan institutions for their working capital. The downside to these sources of funding is that they come at a high cost for businesses. Moreover, these institutions were also heavily hit by the negative impact of the pandemic, thereby constraining their ability to give out loans to companies. As a result, most of these enterprises tend to direct their attention to other alternatives to seek funds to finance their ventures.  These alternatives include government and donor grant and loan programs. Government agencies in developed and developing economies are providing funding in the form of grants to support businesses during this pandemic. For instance, in Ghana, government Agencies such as the  Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) and the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI), and the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) provide support to SMEs and start-ups, especially in this pandemic era.  Some of these agencies offer loans facilities, and others give grants to local enterprises. The State has initiatives and programs such as the CAP Buss Program and Ghana Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (CARES), Obaatan Pa to help local enterprises and mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the economy. Obtaining funds from these sources come with some merits and demerits.  Some of the advantages are that the helping enterprise will not have to be paid back funds that are given as a grant. Even in the case of loan facilities, the cost of borrowing tends to be much lower compared to borrowing from banks. Also, no part of the enterprise is taken in return for the grant. Thus no control is taken over the business. Nonetheless, the application process can be very time-consuming with issues of red tape and lots of competition is involved in obtaining funds from these sources. These sources of funding are not adequate to meet the financial needs of these enterprises. Therefore, businesses need to explore another avenues to raise the funds they need for their operations. There are other avenues that are largely not explored by SME enterprises in developing countries, which, if explored, will inure great benefit to the enterprises.  One of such avenues that SMEs in countries like Ghana can use to raise funds is through crowdfunding. A lot of enterprises in the developed countries use this route to obtain funding. Crowdfunding platforms allow businesses to raise funds

Just like many other countries around the world, oil palm is aboriginal to Ghana. This is because, the country’s weather and apt soil conditions allow for its vast production. Oil palm is a local staple food for Ghanaians of all cultural backgrounds and have created job opportunities for many over the years. Aside this, it contributes immeasurably to the country’s coffers. I’ve been thinking about the oil palm industry for a few weeks now. A Turkish processing company asked that I research the possibility of them importing Palm Kernel Shells. Palm Kernel Shells or PKS are the shells fragments that are left over after palm kernel is crushed in the mill. I am aware of PKS’s availability; I just didn’t know that it is extremely sort after. The shells, not to talk of the palm kernel.  That got me thinking about the entire palm oil industry. On the international level, oil palm accounts for more than half of the global import and export trade of all vegetable oils. As a result of its frequent production around the world, oil palm can also be found in a variety of stuff including food, nonessentials, and biofuels. In the same vein, it is globally the most edible oil having exceeded all others in 2015 according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (2019). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also estimated its global production at 50 million tonnes in the crop year ending September 2011. Yet, the state of the oil palm industry throughout the world is often swept under the carpet and rarely discussed, at least from my light research conducted. Regardless, it is an undisputable fact that one of the most contentious issues on sustainable agriculture across the world has to do with the oil palm industry. Most controversial is the seeming disparity between its economic impacts and its environmental and social effects; I’m talking about issues relating to deforestation & the loss of biodiversity, social tensions & conflicts due to land acquisition. In a 2019 report by The Guardian, worldwide annual production of palm oil according to the USDA from 2018 to 2019 was nearly 81.6 million tons. This shows that a significant proportion of people use products or items containing oil palm around the world. There is an estimated three billion users of palm oil products in 150 countries. There is a global average user consumption of 8kg of palm oil annually. Oil palm grows mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America with Indonesia and Malaysia being its principal  producers. These leading producers of oil palm, i.e. Indonesia and Malaysia, offer the international market 85% of global oil palm produce. But in spite of these high productions figures increasing revenues in these countries, there are mega environmental and social damages.  The dominant nature of the oil palm industry Oil palm cannot be spoken of without its source – the palm tree. It is general knowledge that the palm tree from which we subsequently derive the oil palm has immeasurable benefits. I believe that one way or the other we all may have shared in the numerous benefits of the palm tree. If you’re an adult Ghanaian that mostly lived in Ghana, then chances are that you cracked the shell one time and chewed on the nut. Palm trees are unquestionably among the most vital tress here on planet earth. All of its parts can be transformed into something valuable. Aside the oil palm, other items such as palm wine, woods, brooms, palm kernel, mats, among others can be gotten from the palm tree. Oh and Palm Kernel Shell! It is also an undisputable fact that oil palm is the most popular item derived from the palm tree. It is hauled out of the palm fruit and used for cooking oil, soaps, waxes, toothpastes and many more. With this knowledge, it can be noted that the dominant nature of the oil palm industry can be attributed to its universal and continual relevance.  Factors contributing to Oil Palm dominance. After what you’ve read so far, it would be safe to say that the oil palm industry has a lot to control. This dominance of the oil palm industry can be hinged on five forces or factors.  An ingredient in almost everything  In line with the above already discussed, oil palm is almost in everything, from foods to cosmetics and biofuels. It is also the most common cooking oil across the world because of its high heat resistance, long shelf life and, most importantly, its low price. This notion is substantiated by an estimation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that palm oil can be found in about 50% of packaged items in the supermarket. This ranges from everything like detergents, to candy, to cosmetics.  Oil Palms also have higher production rates than other vegetable oils as it demands smaller amounts of energy, fertilizer and pesticides to produce. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) agrees. WWF has stated that oil palm produces around thirty-five percent (35%) of all vegetable oil. Oil farm farmers do this on less than 10% of all land allocated to oil-producing crops. In contrast, other oils such as coconut oil or soybean oil would utilise anywhere between four (4) and ten (10) times more land. A driving force for environmental and social effects Though oil palm production contributes immensely to the creation of employment opportunities and revenues, it forms part of the factors responsible for some forms of social and environmental destruction including the following; forest and peatland burning and the resulting haze; deforestation and the loss of biodiversity; social tensions and conflicts due to land acquisition; infringement of local rights in rural communities; and the unjust treatment of smallholder farmers. Hence, despite its high production rate across the world, it is apparent that the expansion of oil palm plantations means that palm oil production would contribute largely to escalating the already existent destruction of lands, thus deforestation and other social problems. On a scale

One of the main sources of animal protein for many households in Ghana comes from frozen Chicken (Kwadzo et al., 2013). According to the United States development agency (USDA, 2017) , one of Ghana’s most consumed and highly preferred animal proteins is frozen chicken. As much as there is a high demand for it, a sizeable proportion of frozen chicken is not produced in Ghana. Ghana highly depends on the imports of frozen chicken from developed countries (Banson et al., 2015). Most of the frozen chicken in Ghana are imported from the countries such as Belgium, the United States of America, Poland, Brazil, and the Netherlands. In 2011 Ghana imported over 155,000 metric tons of frozen chicken worth $169 million. The Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPF) reported that over 135,000 metric tons of frozen chicken were imported from European countries between 2016 to 2017. This representing a seventy-six percent increase in the importation of frozen chicken from the European Union. While the demand for frozen chicken continues to rise, the domestic supply appears to be stagnant over the years.  Below is the trend of Ghana’s importation of poultry meat. As shown in Figure 1, there has been an upsurge in importation from 93,108 metric tons in 2016 to about 222,000 metric tons in 2018. Comparatively, the exportation of poultry meat to other countries is safe to say, nil, as shown in Figure 1.   On average, the consumption of chicken in Ghana grows at a rate of six percent (6%) per year. This trend of chicken consumption will continue to increase due to rapid population growth and economic growth. The local industry used to be responsible for providing high-quality protein meat and supplied about ninety-five percent of the country’s total domestic poultry meat requirement. However, since the mid-1990s, the share of domesticproduction has declined. Domestic chicken meat production only supplies less than twenty percent of the total domestic demand, with the excess demand met by imports (Naggujja et al., 2020; Randon & Ashitey, 2011).  Naggujja et al., 2020 assert that because of structural constraints such as the high cost of poultry feeds, equipment, and financing for efficient production, domestic producers are unable to produce to meet the increasing demand for the commodity. One of the major issues hampering poultry production in Ghana is the high cost of production. The soaring cost of production is largely due to the high cost of feed and medicines. The feeds used in poultry production in Ghana include; corn or imported yellow corn, soybean cake, cotton-seed cake, copra cake, kernel cake, soybean meal, and fish meal; vitamin-mineral premixes are generally imported. Most of the imported feeds are taxed, and the cost of corn in Ghana is also ever-rising. The average cost of producing chicken meat in Ghana is far above the imported ones. The cost of feed has been known to be more than seventy percent (70%) of the cost of producing chicken meat (Banson et al., 2015).  Poor and inadequate local infrastructure also contributes to the high cost. The majority of poultry production in the country takes place in the rural hinterlands, away from the urban areas where the demand is high. These high costs have resulted in a reduction in the returns on producing chicken meat locally. As a result, many of the producers in the country have diverted from broilers production to producing layers (Etuah et al., 2020; Rudloff & Schmieg, 2016). Aside from the high cost of production, inadequate protection of the poultry industry from unfair competitionand trade practices is a cause of the low domestic production. It leads to the very high imports of foreign-produced frozen chicken into the Ghanaian market.  The domestic cost of producing a unit is far above the price of imported chicken. The poultry imported from Europe and the United States of America is heavily subsidized, making the imports artificially low-costcompared to the domestic produce. Imported chicken is about thirty-five to forty percent cheaper than what is produced domestically. The local farmer cannot compete. This phenomenon is not healthy for the domestic industry as it undermines the growth of the local industry. As a result, imported chicken tends to be less expensive than what is produced domestically (Banson et al., 2015).   Furthermore, the growing strong preference, for various reasons, for imported frozen chicken is also a contributing factor in Ghana becoming a net importer of frozen chicken. The strong preference for the imported poultry meat is due to its availability in different parts, sizes, and forms. This makes it very convenient for the average Ghanaian household compared to whole dressed birds, which is the dominant meat product of the local poultry industry (Dziwornu et al., 2014; Takyi-Mensah, 2012). This is also one of the reasons why most local poultry farmers have shifted their attention from broiler production to the production of layers (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2013). It is worth iterating that constraints responsible for the slow growth of the country’s poultry production are lack of processing capacity, inadequate finance and access to credit, low disease-resistant breeds of livestock leading to high incidence of livestock diseases, and limited access to appropriate technology.  I had an interesting discussion with the leading importers of frozen products in Ghana; IDS LIMITED, IZAKO LIMITED & OMEGA 3 IMPEX LIMITED, on the use of technology in the industry. The need for affordable and efficient equipment in the local demand of poultry was not understated by all of them them. To them, they’d easily purchase from local producers as well once local production gets competitive, and meet quality demands that the market dictates. The guys at IDS Limited are however deploying impressive use of modern technology in the distribution and supply of their commodities. Nonetheless, despite the many challenges of poultry production in Ghana, the country needs to change this trajectory. Measures need to be implemented to cut the high dependency on imported chicken to revamp the industry. Ghana stands to gain a lot if it is able to address the major constraints faced by the industry.  Among the reasons why government and other stakeholders need to pay critical attention to the development of the industry is;  Frozen chicken remains one of the most preferred sources of animal protein in the country. The demand for chicken meat continue to increase; again, the consumption of it on average increases at a rate of about six percent (6%) per year. According to the USDA (2017), the demand for chicken meat is