Sabah, Malaysia

Tamanaa is a grains processor with a diversified sourcing channel mix, and is one of the SMEs that is supported under the Grains for Growth program. Their goal is to be among the top 10 rice mills in Ghana in terms of efficient use of installed capacity, while simultaneously making an impact at the community level.

The report contains many interesting findings, of which the main ones are listed below:

Company level

• Tamanaa’s SDM is profitable and EBT is projected to grow with 40% between 2021 and 2025, mainly driven by growth in volumes. From 2023 onwards the majority of rice paddy is sourced from outgrowers, as Tamanaa will focus on that channel. Although the SDM is  profitable, EBIT per farmer declines by 19% between 2022 and 2025. This is a result of the fact that the growth in farmer numbers outpaces the volumes sourced, since farmers have not yet reached their full yield potential.

Farm level

• SDM farmers already outperform baseline farmers significantly, and there is potential for further improvement by increasing yields, increasing share of high moisture rice, and decreasing post-harvest losses. In order to achieve this, SDM farmers must incur higher costs due to increased use of pre-financed inputs. However, this is worth the investments when farmers succeed in doubling their yield as expected, with the potential to improve even further.

Interesting elements

• Tamanaa supports women parboiling groups and corresponding VSLAs, which provide a cost-effective solution for Tamanaa for the parboiling of rice with a low moisture content. There is also a clear business case for the women for undertaking this value adding activity with profits currently averaging 100 GHS per week, and potential to increase this further. Additionally, the savings aspect of the VSLAs provides the women with access to (small-scale) loans and increases their control over financial resources and thereby their (financial) independence.