The 11th edition of the annual Pre-harvest Agribusiness Conference and Exhibitions, organised by Agrihouse Foundation has opened at the Aliu Mamaha Sport Stadium in Tamale, in the Northern Region.
The three day agribusiness market linkage conference and exhibitions event, is on the theme, ‘Working together to improve market channels for agri-foods beyond the pandemic.”
This year’s event is being held in collaboration with the Northern Regional Coordinating Council – NRCC, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA). Sponsors of the event are YARA, Ecobank Ghana PLC, World Food Programme, ADB-Agricultural Development Bank, GIZ MOAP, Demeter Ghana Limited, United Fertilizers Company Limited (UFCL), and HD PLUS.
Exploration
Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, commenting on the event said, this year’s event would bring a pool of agric value chain actors and stakeholders together, to further highlight, explore innovative ways and identify pandemic preparedness solutions that would contribute to the growth of knowledge in producing good food, providing good food and marketing good food.
The over thousand participants who have registered to be part of the event will receive training in various capacity building topics that can help them adopt best farming practices to increase their yields and productivity.
She said sessions like the commodity breakout session and farmer-buyer matchmaking dialogues would connect aggregators and farmers of rice, maize, millet, sorghum, soyabeans, groundnut, yam and tubers, among others to buyers and processing companies.
She said successful agribusiness modules that had worked would be showcased as part of the capacity building sessions. She said a gender workshop, and agri-youth forum would be held respectively, to underscore the efforts of women in the agric space, while highlighting support structures that could be improved or designed to help them scale-up their efforts to build sustainable food systems
The forum, she said, would be both practical and motivational; a session that would shed light on how today’s youth, could connect to the future of agriculture, through diverse innovative and creative approaches.
There will also be the development panel conversations, where institutions, including Yara, Ecobank, World Food Programme, GIZ Moap, ADB, Demeter, UFCL and other Public Units, will deliberate and agree on realistic ways to cooperate and work together, to improve upon and build resilient markets.
The panel will deliberate the theme of 2021 pre-harvest, and as part of commitments, raise a call to action that will enable them curve a working pathway, with timeliness to achieve, improve, strengthen and sustain a resilient agri market. This year’s field demonstrations, she said, would offer farmers and actors the opportunity to get practical learn, appreciate and adopt best practices in farm management.
“This year’s Pre-Harvest event will not come short in playing its role in facilitating farmers and agro-processors to access opportunities to expand their growth potentials and build new partnerships. We have a strong team with the capacity to ensure that,” Ms. Akosa assured.
