9th Pre-Harvest Agribusiness Exhibitions & Conference to focus on sustainable & structured markets

Building on the success of the 2018 event, the 9th Annual Pre-harvest Agribusiness Exhibitions and Conference, which is scheduled from September 25-27, 2019 at the Aliu Mahama Sports stadium is expected to bring together about 3000 farmers, agribusinesses and value chain actors to share ideas and discuss measures to be put in place to ensure a more structured and sustained market access and linkages is built for farmers and agribusinesses during the season.

A statement released by the organizers said, the 3-day event on the theme: Market Access: what is the structured and sustainable pathway?, will equally place more emphasis on training actors through practical sessions, field demonstrations and open dialogue, whiles showcasing, promoting business and networking opportunities through the exhibitions that will be running alongside.

Topics and thematic areas to be explored during the period will include Market Linkages, Commodity Pricing, Favorable Agricultural policies, Financing, Seed quality systems, best practices in agricultural production, nutrition, climate-smart agricultural practices and approaches, system and structures. There will also be focused training and capacity building sessions on donor interventional projects, impact on gender equality & women empowerment, Agricultural technology and innovations, impacting on the sector. These topics were carefully selected, based on the feedback from the 2018 event survey, the statement added.

In his statement, Dr. Abdel Majeed, CEO of the Northern Development Authority, an organizing partner said, the annual Pre-Harvest Agribusiness Exhibition & Conference, a major interventional and a leading event on the Ghanaian agricultural calendar has over the years served as stimulating platform for Training, match-making, agribusiness development, increased stakeholder linkages and expanded opportunities. The 9th Pre-harvest will continue to build upon on-going collaborations to accelerate the transformation of agribusiness and position the Northern region as a hub for agro-processors to source raw materials, whiles strengthening the capacity of farmer-based organizations and aggregators to play key roles as agricultural marketing actors. The statement concluded.

According to Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, Last year’s event, attracted a total of 3,122 participants, amongst whom included farmers, farmer groups, aggregators, processors, buyers, transporters, input dealers, civil society, government ministries and agencies, industry and business leaders, Agric marketing experts, financial institutions, brand specialists, policy makers and influencers, development partners , donor agencies and recorded 144 companies exhibiting during the program.

The above shows the growth and sustained the interest of participants over the years and I am very positive of increase in participation for this year. This year’s Pre-harvest will play a critical role in opening up markets, to complement the Government’s initiatives and Development Partner interventions.

USAID ADVANCE handed over the organization of the Pre-harvest event to Agrihouse Foundation, with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Northern Development Authority and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council as organizing partners. The handing over formed part of USAID ADVANCE effort to sustain the event to continuously support the transformation of agricultural production and provide long term market development opportunities.

Sponsors of the event include Yara Ghana, Ecobank, John Deere, Kosmos Energy, Interplast, RMG, Dizengoff, Hatuom Trading, Mel Consulting Limited, LK International and Dizengoff Ghana.