Grow agripreneurship: The guardians and gardeners must work together

Recently, a group of us lecturers met to discuss entrepreneurship development and education, and waded into the realm of the Ghana, Burkina Faso tomatoes saga, and what lessons we can learn from it. One of us said, I make Jams made of tomatoes. Really!!! We all exclaimed. Allow me to make a disclaimer; after all, research into this product is her entrepreneurial initiative.

This research recipe has not been tested, and may work to beat her medical condition, but not for others. The recipe was tomatoes, sweet watermelon, and lemon for the jam. We further continued our conversations on Agriculture and Entrepreneurship and advocated for the continued support and promotion of Agripreneurship, which will be discussed further in this article.

Entrepreneurship has taken on a dynamic face as entrepreneurs move into new markets globally. Entrepreneurship education has become an interesting academic area. The main intention behind the increase in learning institutions is to increase the level of business startups in Uganda. (Abaho, 2009). In Ghana, the rising rate of unemployed graduates provides skills and an entrepreneurial attitude for self-employment. (Puni, 2019).

Many of the small businesses in the United States of America, are owned and operated by men and women who created their own companies and identified unmet needs in the marketplace. These small businesses provide a service or product to meet those unmet needs. Small businesses are a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, representing 99.9% of all businesses and 34.8 million companies. These enterprises were founded to address market gaps, contribute to innovation by providing specialised services and products (Mohan et-al, 2011).

Who are entrepreneurs

The term “Entrepreneur” is French in origin. Richard Cantillon first popularised the role of the entrepreneur in economic development. He recognised three classes in society, namely the entrepreneur, the landowner and the worker. The entrepreneur is the central economic actor. Another Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Say, is credited with recognising entrepreneurs as catalysts for economic change and development. An Entrepreneur is someone willing to take risk.

What is entrepreneurship 

Entrepreneurship is defined as “the creation of new organisations” (Vesper, 2009). Entrepreneurship is the creation of a new business, the management of a small business or the strategic reorientation of an existing business, leading to significant business growth and wealth creation (Chrisman, 1990).  Entrepreneurship refers to the creation of a new economic entity centred on a novel product or service or, at the very least, one which differs significantly from products or services offered elsewhere in the marketplace (Curran & Stanworth, 1989).

The EU has fostered entrepreneurship through the education system as follows: Introducing entrepreneurship into the formal curriculum, training and motivating teachers to engage in entrepreneurial education, promoting education based on learning–by–doing, such as mini-projects

It has also involved local entrepreneurs and companies in the design and running of entrepreneurship courses and activities, and increased the teaching of entrepreneurship in higher education, especially in areas outside the mainstream business diplomas and degrees.

Types of entrepreneurship

There are different types of entrepreneurship, such as the following:

Small business, Scalable startup, Corporate entrepreneurship (Intrapreneurship), Social entrepreneurship, Global entrepreneurship, Franchise entrepreneurship, E-entrepreneurship, Lifestyle entrepreneurship and Agripreneurship.  

Agripreneurship 

Agripreneurship is the blend of "agriculture" and "entrepreneurship." It looks at the application of innovative, business-oriented thinking to farming and agricultural projects. It involves transforming traditional farming into profitable, sustainable businesses by leveraging technology, value-added processing, and marketing to meet market demands and create incomes (Naayo, 2025).

Agripreneurship is not just about growing crops or raising livestock; it is about adding value, managing risk, and thinking like an entrepreneur. It embraces Commercial crop and livestock farming, Agro-processing and value addition, Agribusiness services (inputs, logistics, advisory, agri-tech), Market-oriented and export-driven farming (Rehman, 2026).

With rising food demand, technological innovation, and new market opportunities, agripreneurship is transforming agriculture into a dynamic and profitable enterprise.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), agribusiness and agro-processing contribute significantly to rural employment and income generation in developing countries, often accounting for 30–50% of agricultural GDP when value chains are fully developed.

Importance of Agripreneurship

Youth Unemployment and Rural Development

The World Bank highlights agripreneurship as a key solution to: Poverty reduction, youth migrations to cities and Rural unemployment.

A shift from Subsistence to Market-Oriented Farming. Traditional subsistence farming focuses on survival. Agripreneurship focuses on, long-term sustainability, profitability and market demand.

Rising Global Food Demand

The global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050 (UN DESA), increasing pressure on food systems.

Agripreneurship goes beyond raw production to include processing, packaging, and marketing (e.g., transforming fruits into jams or purees or canning). It caters for the marginalised, women, and youth in the agricultural value chains and ecosystem. It also focuses on market opportunities, risk management, and profit, rather than just subsistence farming. It aims to improve rural livelihoods, increase food security, and create jobs through sustainable practices.

Agripreneurship has a lot of potential if given the right support. It, however, faces real challenges, such as infrastructure and policy gaps, turning farming into a lucrative venture, limited access to finance, lack of business skills amongst farmers, and weak market linkages.  

Institutions like FAO, IFAD, and the World Bank stress the need for training and capacity building, Access to credit and insurance, and Supportive agricultural policies. Additionally, Ghana needs the support of, the Tree Crops development authority, ADB Bank, CSIR, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, FAO, WACCI, Planting for food and jobs, Ghana export promotion authority, Exim bank, the ecosystem, various actors in the value chain in Agriculture to promote Agripreneurship. Agriculture feeds the world, but agripreneurship builds wealth.

Back to the Ghana, Burkina Faso tomatoes saga, in the words of an article published by Modern Ghana, there are prospects, goodwill that exists in strengthening the capacity of farmers to manage the tomato value chain, improve transportation to reduce post-harvest losses, and increase processing capacity.