The ITC and CSIR-FRI organized a one-day workshop with key partners and stakeholders in the coffee value chain to validate and operationalize the drafted coffee handbook resulting from the enterprise assessment. The validation workshop took place in the Director's Conference Room of CSIR-FRI, Accra. The workshop attracted 66 participants, including coffee farmers, hullers, roasters, agro-processors, consultants, officials from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), International Trade Centre (ITC), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Robusta Coffee Agency of Africa and Madagascar (ACRAM) Focal Person, and some scientists from the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and CSIR-FRI. The participants comprised 62% males and 38%

females.

The validation of the coffee manual was preceded by a presentation on the harvesting, postharvest management, and processing of coffee by Dr. John Edem Kongor and Mr. Richard Nyumuah. The presentation gave a snippet of the developed coffee manual to be validated. To facilitate a smooth discussion by all stakeholders during the validation exercise, the participants were grouped into two (2). Group 1 focused on Chapter 1 of the manual, while Group 2 focused on Chapters 2–4. The groups comprised the following stakeholders:

The main goal of the experts' meeting was to revise the developed ITC coffee handbook, taking into account all of the comments, suggestions, and revisions made by coffee stakeholders during the validation workshop. The meeting was held in Accra at the Director's Conference Room of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Food Research Institute. The manual was revised to incorporate all the comments and suggestions made by stakeholders during the validation workshop. During the meeting, the experts reviewed the manual again to ensure that all the corrections had been implemented to improve the manual. The experts provided a wide range of perspectives, comments, and suggestions to help improve the manual. Following the successful stakeholders' workshop to validate the ITC coffee handbook on March 1, 2023, some key experts in the coffee value chain gathered on March 24, 2023, to review the stakeholders' inputs, suggestions, and comments. The meeting was attended by 16 coffee value-chain experts. Among the experts were scientists from the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Food Research Institute (CSIR-FRI), and officials from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), International Trade Centre (ITC), coffee processors, and ACRAM.

The main goal of the experts' meeting was to revise the developed ITC coffee handbook, taking into account all of the comments, suggestions, and revisions made by coffee stakeholders during the validation workshop. The meeting was held in Accra at the Director's Conference Room of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Food Research Institute.

The manual was revised to incorporate all the comments and suggestions made by stakeholders during the validation workshop. During the meeting, the experts reviewed the manual again to ensure that all the corrections had been implemented to improve the manual. The experts provided a wide range of perspectives, comments, and suggestions to help improve the manual.

The ITC handbook on coffee processing for MSMEs in West Africa was launched in a colourful ceremony at the CSIR-Food Research Institute in Accra following its successful validation and revision by stakeholders and coffee value-chain experts. The launch was attended by key stakeholders in Ghana's coffee value chain. In attendance were representatives from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Department of Nutrition and Food Science (University of Ghana), Coffee Federation of Ghana, ACRAM, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, CSIR-FRI, and some coffee processors. The handbook, dubbed 'Harvesting, Post-harvest Management, and Processing of Coffee' was officially launched by Prof. Charles Tortoe, Director of CSIR-FRI; Lawrence Attipoe, National Programme Coordinator, ITC Alliances for Action; and Miss Ivy Cynthia Osei Sampah, ACRAM's Focal Person.

The handbook, which will serve as a comprehensive reference for farmers, processors, SMEs, and other players in the coffee value chain, covers a wide range of topics. It covers crucial topics such as harvesting, post-harvest management, good manufacturing practices, food safety and quality management systems, and product development in coffee processing. The goal is to ensure that overall industry-wide quality standards are met and maintained. The launch was covered by some Ghanaian media outlets, including print, television, and online. Some stakeholders present at the launch also delivered goodwill messages in support of the handbook.

A capacity-building work and action plan were developed to facilitate the training of coffee agro-processors and other value chain actors in the country. Using the ITC coffee handbook as the primary guide and reference, a total of 104 coffee agro-processors and value chain actors from across the coffee-producing regions in Ghana were trained (Table 3). Interestingly, 66% of the trainees were males and 34% females. There were 71% coffee farmers, 16% coffee processors, 7% coffee farmers/processors, 3% hullers, 1% aggregators, and 2% other value-chain actors among the trainees (Figure 1). Coffee processors refer to SMEs who roast, mill, and package coffee for sale. All the processors in the Volta Region use the traditional open pan and firewood method for roasting the coffee, whereas processors in the Eastern and Ashanti regions use the rotating drum roasters. The majority (50%) of the trainees were 50 years old, with only 9% under 30 years old, an indication that the majority of the youth are not involved in coffee agro-processing.

The training focused on best harvesting practices, post-harvest management, roasting and milling, packaging, food safety and quality, good manufacturing practices (GMPs), equipment maintenance, packaging, branding, and labelling. The training was tailored to the intended audience. Training for the farmers, hullers, and aggregators focused more on best harvesting practices, post-harvest management, food safety and quality, and good hygienic practices. The training for processors focused on food safety and quality, GMPs, coffee processing and equipment maintenance, packaging, labelling, branding, and the 5S (S for Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke) concept in food processing. To ensure that both coffee farmers and agro-processors understand the importance of finance in farming and processing activities, the training also covered record-keeping, cash flow, and savings. The training was done in the local language of the community. In places where the trainers were not fluent in the local language, a translator was used to translate from English to the local language. Training materials used included PowerPoint presentation and A2 printout where applicable.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) were done to determine the adoption and application of the lessons learned by coffee agro-processors during the training sessions. The activities of about 30 coffee agro-processors who received training on best harvesting practices, postharvest management, roasting and milling, packaging, food safety and quality, good manufacturing practices, and equipment maintenance would be monitored and evaluated. Currently, the activities of 15 agro-processors, which include 14 coffee farmers and 1 processor have been monitored and evaluated (Table 4). The M&E was done with a simplified M&E questionnaire, field visits, and discussions.

All of the farmers and agro-processors had received training in postharvest management and coffee processing, primarily from ITC/CSIR-FRI and COCOBOD. Although the majority (66.7%) of the farmers have now resorted to picking the coffee cherries as the method of harvesting in comparison to the 2021 and 2022 seasons, some farmers, particularly in Barniekrom, are still stripping the coffee cherries during harvesting (Figure 3). The responses also showed that some of the farmers do not sort the harvested coffee cherries before drying, resulting in the drying of both the ripe and green (unripe) coffee cherries (Figure 4). This practice has been aged old and more training is required to ensure that all the farmers use picking as the preferred harvesting method and sort out all the unripe coffee cherries before drying. The responses also revealed an improvement in the drying of coffee cherries, with the majority of farmers drying the coffee on drying mats placed on a raised platform in comparison to the 2021 and 2022 seasons (Figure 5). The majority of the farmers are now keeping records of their farming activities as compared to the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Following the farmer interviews, there were discussions and a visit to some of the coffee farms. The discussions with the farmers provided us with an opportunity to explain the significance of harvesting only mature and ripe coffee cherries and manually sorting the harvested cherries to remove any unwanted materials. The majority of farmers lamented the scarcity of labourers in the communities to help with farm work, particularly harvesting, as well as the presence of ants on the coffee trees during harvesting. This frequently leads to the stripping of coffee cherries during harvesting. Both interviews and discussions revealed that all the farmers sell the dried coffee cherries in the unhulled state, as there are no hulling facilities in their communities.

Product development is critical in coffee processing because it adds value to coffee and diversifies its applications. Approximately 20 coffee products are currently being developed at the Product Development Laboratory at CSIR-Food Research Institute. These primarily include product fortification and recipe development with roasted ground coffee. The products under development include coffee bread, coffee candies, fruit leather, etc. Trials on the use of coffee husks (a byproduct of coffee) as a substrate for mushroom cultivation are also underway. Product development is currently in the initial phase. This will be followed by validation of the recipe, sensory evaluation of the developed products and some physicochemical analyses.

Coffee products under development