FAGRO And Agritech In Partnership

Come next year, Ghana will see the exhibition and introduction of modern farming methods which are set to revolutionise the country�s agricultural sector. This is borne out of a strategic partnership struck by Ghana�s National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO) with Israeli agricultural and technology organisation, Agritech. FAGRO has since 2009 been providing the platform for Ghanaian farmers to learn modern techniques of agricultural marketing, the use of new farming technologies, as well as farm management. The goal of Agritech, a non-profit organisation made up of several associations, institutions and the academia, is to explore and export Israeli agricultural technology. The technology-oriented organisation is coming in to support Ghana�s agricultural exhibitions with well-researched and new methods of farming in a variety of areas. Smallholder farmers, for instance, will be nurtured and supported into large-scale commercial farms. At a press conference to announce the partnership last Friday in Accra, FAGRO Exhibition Director, Ms Alberta Akyaa Akosa disclosed that the first interaction with Agritech came up during an investment meeting held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May this year. �It was our first investment meeting ever in Israel between Ghanaian and Israeli companies. We had seminars on modern trends in agriculture, field trips and farm tours,� she said. The five-day meeting in Israel explored how farmers of both nations could explore and exploit investment opportunities. Ms Akosa indicated that the FAGRO-Israeli Investment Meeting had proved to be very productive and fruitful, adding that it provided the launching pad to form more strategic alliances and new partnerships. �We at FAGRO are happy to have come this far where we are hopeful to, in the next few days, sign an agreement with Agritech to seal the partnership and thus move FAGRO to another level and indeed cause a revolution in Ghana�s agriculture.� General Manager (GM) of Agritech, Mr Dan Meiri, who reckoned that agriculture in Ghana was largely small-scaled, was of the view that without the appropriate infrastructure, farmers would not be able to expand their operations. �In Israel we don�t have small-scale farms because right from the very beginning we support them with the appropriate infrastructure so that�s one of the reasons why agriculture in Israel is advanced,� he said. According to him, both exhibitors and visitors to agricultural fairs had to be told the truth, �not to surprise them.� �Most exhibitors are coming from middle- and small-scale farms but they are willing to become large-scale farmers and we want to show them how to do it,� he said. He appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to �support the farmers to come because sometimes they cannot afford travelling long distances to the exhibition centres,� adding that �it has been successful in other countries like Peru and in India.� He recommended that agricultural exhibitions be divided into two sectors, small-scale farmer exhibitions and large-scale exhibitions. The Agritech GM asked government and MOFA to fund research into agriculture, saying that �the government should put its hand into its pocket and give some money for research because this forms part of the infrastructure and this is what I�m asking the media here to deliver.�