Agribusiness confab, exhibition to be held in Tamale

More than 3,000 people along the agricultural value chain are expected to converge on Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, for an agribusiness conference and exhibition aimed at improving the agricultural sector.

Dubbed: “Pre-harvest agribusiness conference and exhibition”, the three-day event, which will begin on September 25, 2019, is being organised by Agrihouse, a non-governmental organisation, in partnership with KOSMOS Energy, Yara Ghana Limited and Ecobank Ghana, at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium.

The conference, which is on the theme: “Market accessibility: The structured and sustainable pathway”, is also aimed at expanding businesses and forging new partnerships to promote the growth of agriculture in the country.

It is also expected to provide a platform for conferencing, presentations and exhibitions and a marketplace for business-to-business meetings.

Among participants are stakeholders in agribusiness who will discuss measures needed to ensure a more structured and sustained market access and links for farmers in the agribusiness sector.

The conference will also feature an exhibition to showcase leading agricultural organisations in seed and fertiliser production, storage, machinery and technology.

Objectives

At a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, Ms Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, said the 2019 edition of the annual conference would help farmers adopt best practices to ensure that the achievements chalked up in the industry were sustained.

She said it would also provide a platform for commodity buyers and farmers to establish business relations and assist farmers and agribusinesses to expand their businesses before and after harvesting.

The conference is expected to build on the successes of the 2018 event, which recorded about 3,000 participants and 141 exhibitors.

Innovations

The Director of Corporate Affairs of KOSMOS Energy, Mr George Sarpong, said agriculture should be made more attractive and appealing to the youth for them to engage in it.

He said there was the need to leverage innovation and technology to ensure that agriculture, which is the bedrock of the economy, yielded the needed results.

He said although KOSMOS was an energy company, it was also interested in growing the agricultural sector of the economy, hence the establishment of the KOSMOS innovation centre which, among others, sought to support small agribusinesses.

Empowering farmers

For his part, the Head of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at Ecobank Ghana, Mr Kingsley Adofo-Addo, said effective collaboration between the financial and the agricultural sectors was critical to the growth of the latter.

He said ECOBANK was committed to helping to transform the agricultural sector through various programmes and projects because agriculture had the potential to change the fortunes of the country.

Consequently, he said, the bank would build the capacities of farmers and other actors in the value chain on good financial practices and also provide the necessary financial support for farmers.

The West Africa Regional Director of YARA, Mr Danquah Addo-Yobo, underscored the need to empower farmers and other actors in the agricultural value chain with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to increase productivity.

During the conference, he said, participants would be educated on and sensitised to the appropriate application of farm inputs, among other relevant information.