Farming cashews and buying & selling shea nuts

Isaac

Techiman, Ghana

100% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Isaac

Member since

March 2016

On-time repayments

55 installments • 56%

About Me

I live in Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. I am a teacher by profession and teach in Menji Agric senior high school in the Tain district in Ghana.
My knowledge in Agriculture during my senior high school, coupled with my passion for farming has enabled me to engage in cashew farming.
Proceeds from my farm will enable me to help take care of my family of four and other three dependants( cousin and nephew) who are schooling.
I periodically offer assistance to brilliant but needy and orphan kids in both my community and the school I teach.
My ambition is to become a renowned cashew farmer in future.
My hobbies are reading story books, watching football and listening to music.

My Business

I have a three hectare cashew farm which was started two years ago. My crops have started fruiting and I hope to start harvesting by next year. I employ casual labour to help with the management of my farm.
I also deal in buying and selling of cashew nuts and shea nuts.
Brong Ahafo region of Ghana has been blessed with cashew which serves as the main cash crop in the region.I purchase cashew nuts from farmers in the nearby communities and convey to cashew buying centers (mostly in towns) for sale. Most of the farmers are unable to convey their nuts to towns for sale.
My plan is to expand my cashew retail into wholesale in future and employ extra hands. I will also process the cashew fruits into fruit juice in the near future since emphasis is placed on the nuts, leaving the fruits to get rotten.
I come from the northern part of Ghana which is blessed with shea nuts. Shea butter is extracted from the shea nuts for consumption and export. Most of the indigenous people have difficulty in selling the shea nuts so I move around the region and buy from the rural folks and sell to the shea butter companies in the cities.

Loan Proposal

I have a cashew farm which was well catered for through the assistance that I received from Zidisha a couple of months ago.
Part of the loan I will secure would be used in paying for laborers to weed my cashew farm. The cashew season is over but the Shea nuts season is fast approaching. I intend channelling the remaining amount to the buying and selling of Shea nuts in the northern region of Ghana.
I will use $50 for the wedding of my farm,$200 for the purchase of Shea nuts for resale. I will use part of my monthly salary for the purchase of sacks,transportation and other miscellaneous expenses.
I hope that my loan would be funded to realize my dreams in life and give back to the society through supporting needy kids in my community.