Agritech West Africa has indicated the need to increase educational programmes for farmers on the application of fertilisers and the use of machineries to make farming easier and increase crop production.
Managing Director for Calli Ghana, a subsidiary of United Phosphorus Limited (UPL), Bernard Okutu, reiterated the need for farmers to improve upon their innovative skills because of the newly improved machines and fertilisers that are used in farming.
“In Ghana we all know that the smallholder famer forms 80 percent of the entire farming group and they lack innovation, technology and this is why United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) wants to sponsor Agritech West Africa 2022 to ensure that we bring innovation and technology that they lack. We will link them to credit financiers to ensure that they can improve the food securities,” he stated.
According to Mr. Okutu, organisations like his firm has introduced educative programmes that aims at transforming the thoughts and practices of the farmers which will enable them switch from the conventional ways of farming to using improved seeds that can increase yield.
Commenting on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the supply of fertilisers he said: “We still have fertiliser in the system, we have access to folia fertilizer that can augment the farming practices in the country. So nobody should panic, it is still a concern and I am sure that in the industry, we are doing our best to ensure that we can address this concern.”
Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mohammed Hardi, indicated that government has invested huge in the area of agriculture and will continue to create enabling environment for farmers. He added that the ministry will, in some few months, make available farming equipments for the farmers to use.
The Agritech West Africa 2022 event gave opportunity for stakeholders and farmers to bond, interact, share ideas, and keep themselves updated on the current issues of agriculture since valuable information is key to the success of every business.
Exhibitors from other parts of the world like India, South Africa, Turkey, UK, Egypt and other countries joined Agritech during the exhibition to show their products they made from farming, new machines they have introduced, processed food and packaging, among others.
