Bold partnerships between the government, private sector, civil society organisations and international allies are critical towards transforming Ghana’s agricultural sector.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Agri-Impact, an Agribusiness firm, Daniel Fahene Acquaye, said no individual or country can transform agriculture alone, as agricultural transformation requires the collective efforts of all key stakeholders.
“As a country, we must make deliberate efforts towards partnership by bringing all stakeholders who matter on board to be able to improve the agriculture sector to reap its full benefit”, he stressed.
Mr Acquaye made the remarks while addressing the Agri-small and medium enterprises (SME) and finance summit in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Summit
The summit was to boost access to capital and equipment in Ghana’s agricultural sector.
It was hosted by TechnoServe and organised under the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) programme, an initiative of the MasterCard Foundation in partnership with Agri-Impact.
It brought together agribusinesses, financial institutions and equipment providers to explore how improved access to tailored financing and technology can accelerate growth in Ghana’s agricultural sector, particularly for enterprises led by young people and women.
“The opportunity to transform agriculture is in our hands and we require the courage, creativity and commitment to cause the transformation by partnering to build the sector together”, he said.
Enough of pilot projects
He said the country has had enough of pilot projects in the agricultural sector and therefore called for the upscaling of agricultural interventions for the country’s benefit. He added, “Since we continue to pilot, everything we do in the sector is often small”.
He mentioned that there was a need for the nation to shift focus from the decades of piloting agricultural programmes and projects, adding that what is needed now is to learn from successful models and scale them up to drive growth in the sector.
He appealed to financial institutions which were often interested in financing pilot agricultural programmes to join forces with agribusiness firms that would show them the models that would enhance the upscaling of agricultural projects.
Further, he called for the building of systems, structures and human capital as they were needed towards the transformation of agriculture, saying “by building the needed systems, we create resilience, adaptability and a culture of excellence in the sector”.
Further, he advocated investment in critical infrastructure in areas such as logistics, technology and market, stressing “today, drone monitoring, mobile platforms linking producers to markets and mechanisation are needed to revolutionise agriculture”.
Connect
For his part, the Programme Director, TechnoServe, Frank Obiora Mgbemena, said the summit was to connect and to facilitate the linkage of the key players to leverage on the key strengths among them for their mutual benefit.
He said Ghana’s agricultural space was ripe for investments, particularly the availability of large acres of arable land for food production, coupled with willing partners ready to venture into the sector.
“For Ghana, the advantage is that you have large numbers of young people with the appetite for agriculture”, he said, and stressed that the country has the natural resources available to enhance food production.
Participants speak
A representative of Hakama Company Limited, Zeinab Acheampong, said that through the HAPPY programme, they had joined hands with stakeholders to scale up production of agro processed foods for national development.
Another participant, the Director, Total Foods Limited, Abukari Alhassan Suhuyini, in a remark, said they have supported farmers to cultivate over 20,000 acres of rice and soyabean in three districts in the Northern Region.
Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh
