Ms Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa — General Manager, FAGRO Secretariat

Food and Agric show slated for Tamale

Daily Graphic Sep - 06 - 2017 , 06:17

This year’s National Food and Agric Show (FAGRO) is slated for Tamale from September 26 to to September 30, 2017.

The choice of Tamale as venue for the fair, which is normally held in Accra, underlines the commitment to making the show assume a truly national focus on agriculture,” the General Manager of the FAGRO Secretariat, has said.

“This year is a positive one for FAGRO and agriculture in general, as the government has started its flagship agricultural initiative, Planting for Food and Jobs agenda. We are convinced that the agric sector deserves even more than the attention it is currently receiving,” she added.

Ms Akosa further explained that FAGROs’ focus in the north this year was to implement its vision for the north as the nation’s bread basket, saying “when agriculture is developed in the north, that well-endowed region will consequently take its pride of place, and Ghana’s developmental agenda will be greatly stepped up.”

Highlights

Some of the activities lined up for this year’s event include a leadership summit for women in agriculture, an agric colleges dialogue, a seminar on how to structure strong farmers cooperatives, a business plan writing bootcamp for agribusiness players and a forum to discuss the government one district, one factory (1D1F) agenda.

The secretariat in partnership with Yara Ghana, the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association, Dizengoff, John Deere, Africa Lead and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council will roll out the activities during the five-day fair which is expected to welcome thousands to the northern regional capital.

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Northern Regional Minister, The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, members of the diplomatic corps, district chief executives, farmers, agricultural input dealers, machinery companies, financial institutions and many others will grace the event.

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Background

Considered the torchbearer event that serves as the signpost of agriculture as Ghana’s answer to its development dilemma, the FAGRO exhibition will bring agric-oriented companies (manufacturers, agro-input, financing companies, packaging companies, processing companies, irrigation, green house companies, farmer-based organisations) and all directorates of the ministry of agriculture to one venue; Tamale Sports Stadium, to showcase their products and policies, forge new business contacts and network with over 1,000 exhibitors during the five-day fair.

Ms Akosa added that the district dialogue for the 1D1F agenda would build on how feasible the government’s agenda on industrialisation was within the shortest possible time; the opportunities within the districts and how ready the districts were to embrace the identified opportunities.