The government is working towards distributing machineries to small scale farmers to help increase the scale of production and reduce post-harvest losses.
The machineries include tractors, combine harvesters, thrusters, handheld machinery, small rice milling machinery, among others, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, disclosed this in Accra.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of this year’s Agrictech West Africa Exhibitions in Accra, he noted that most of the machinery have arrived in the country and would be distributed in the coming days.
The three-day event was organised by AgricTech West Africa in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with support from CalliGhana.
The exhibitions saw 100 exhibitors from India, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, among others, at the Accra International Conference Centre for the annual Agrictech West Africa.
According to Mr Tufeiru, the government would absorb 60 per cent of the cost while farmers cater for the remaining 40 per cent.
He said the government acquired the machinery through an initiative with the Indian government.
Additionally, Municipal and District Assemblies would also benefit from the machinery with the goal to make the Agricultural sector vibrant.
Mr Tufeiru encouraged companies with intentions of penetrating the Ghanaian market to go through the necessary licensing procedures, adding that the Ministry was ready for partnerships and to implement innovative ideas to help boost the sector.
Project Director of Agrictech West Africa, Thomas James, said Ghana was a country with a growing agricultural economy in Africa, hence, the need to do more in the area of food production and security to meet the ever-increasing population.
“When this is done in the next five years, Ghana could be the finest agro Food processor exporter to meet the demands in the region.
It will make Ghana the stopping point for investors and food processing industries,” he stated.
The Managing Director of CalliGhana, Bernard Okuto, on his part, said the event was to give access to innovative inputs needed to scale up production and distribution.
He noted that his outfit had intensified education to help farmers adopt modern technologies to increase production.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
