Country Team Manager of Sustainable Clusters in Agri-Business, Jalil Zakaria says lack of diversity among farmers contributes to a major failure in the Agricultural sector in Ghana.
According to Mr. Zakaria, this has led to farmer’s inability to meet trending market demands.
“One area farmers have to look at is to see farming as a business and the ways to meet market demands. Farmers need to start asking themselves these questions; what am I going to produce as it rains? Who is going to buy what I am going to produce? Is there a market for what I am going to produce? And if they begin answering these questions as farmers, then, 80 to 90% of their market issues will be solved and production-wise will be increased.”He said.
Mr. Zakaria made this comment at a business network forum organized by 2SCALE collaborated with Faranaya, KEDAN and Tamanaa limited in the Upper East Region. 2SCALE is an incubator and accelerator program that manages a portfolio of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for inclusive businesses in Agri-food sectors and industries.
Touching on the purpose of the event, Mr. Zakaria explained that it was aimed to improve access to nutritious food through improving the livelihoods of smallholders and inclusive businesses in Africa.
“We create this Business to Business meeting to facilitate value chain linkages to improve efficiency through increased collaboration among actors in the value chain of Sorghum, Maize, and Rice. This networking event is bringing together key participants in the provision of services in the value chain to deliberate on the value each service provider will bring towards the value chain competitiveness.” He added
The project he said was funded by the Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs for the period between 2019-2023, and implemented by International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), SNV-Netherland Development Organization in 8 African countries including Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Cote D’Ivoire.
Source:A1radioonline.com|Moses Apiah
