Accra, March 13, - Ghana will
host the first ever Value Added Agriculture Expo in West Africa, aimed at
promoting value addition to agriculture and aquaculture from August 2 to
4, this year.
The Expo, to be organised by Reed
Exhibitions, a UK-based event organiser, with an Africa Office in South Africa,
is expected to promote ‘farm to fork’ solutions to Ghana’s agricultural,
aquaculture, and agro processing sectors.
The Ministry of Food and
Agriculture would be collaborating with Reeds Exhibitions and other sponsors
including Barclays Bank Limited, Mel Consultancy, Interplast, Ecommodity, and
the Kingdom of the Netherlands to host the Expo.
At a media briefing and event
launch in Accra on Tuesday, Ms Adele Eloff, the Africa Manager of Reed, said
the organisation sought to strengthen its current footprint in Africa by
launching its Value Added Agriculture Expo in Ghana, the first in West Africa,
but second after Kenya in Africa last year.
She said the Expo would cover the
full value chain in agriculture business showcasing input and livestock care
among other things with the best practises to increase the production ratio of
outputs to input.
“The show brings together all the
major players in offering product services in the agro business industry,” she
said.
“We will have space for 70 indoor
exhibitions and 60 outdoor exhibiting, which will make this the largest in West
Africa,” Ms Eloff said.
She said the Expo was about
teaching Ghanaian farmers and agro business people the right techniques and
equipment to increase the production and quality of their product.
“There is no use if you push so
much out but the quality of the product is not of a level to be able to sell on
supermarkets or to be actually exported. So it’s all about increasing your
product quality with lesser input,” she said.
Dr Gyiele Nurah, the Minister of
State in charge of Agriculture, welcomed the Expo, saying it would bring out
the best in the industry and create a good platform for exchange and networking
among industry players, and offer the opportunity to foster business
relationships and partnerships.
He said the introduction of
modern technology had also been acknowledged as a very important factor in
doubling productivity and so the Value Added Agriculture Expo West Africa,
would help bring a lasting turn-around result in the agriculture sector.
Mr Ron Strikker, the Ambassador
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, platinum sponsors of the exhibition,
commended the Government of Ghana for according high priority to the
agriculture sector through initiatives including the Planting for Food and
Jobs, placing agric in a prominent position in the 2018 Budget and the upcoming
Marshall Plan for the sector.
“The Netherlands strongly
supports this, and as one of the world’s leaders in agriculture, we have a lot
to offer, knowledge, technology and innovation,” Mr Strikker said.
During the exhibition, there
would also be business workshops for farmers and the agro processing service
industry to enable them to learn the business and technical skills
simultaneously.
GNA
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