By Emmanuel AKOMEA
Agri-Impact, a leading firm in the agricultural sector, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to harness the university’s expertise and its E-Learning infrastructure.
This collaboration aims to transform the agricultural sector, as part of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) programme.
Led by Agri-Impact and involving nine partners, the HAPPY programme spans four years and seeks to utilise technology and innovation to empower young individuals across the agricultural value chain. Supported by the MasterCard Foundation, its primary objective is to create dignified job opportunities for 326,000 young people, with a focus on empowering women and individuals with disabilities.
The programme focuses on four key value chains: rice, soya, poultry and tomatoes. By leveraging industry expertise in each value chain, the initiative aims to boost production, productivity, value addition, market access, enterprise development, and address policy issues related to youth involvement in agriculture.
Over the project’s duration, the programme aims to increase production in these value chains by 180,000 metric tonnes annually and generate US$200million in revenue, while reducing imports by 10 percent.
During the ceremony, Group Chief Executive Officer of Agri-Impact, Dan Aquaye, emphasised the transformative potential of ICT in agriculture, highlighting its role in providing real-time information and data for informed decision-making by farmers.
Deputy Group CEO for Agri-Impact, Julie Asante-Dartey, emphasised that the initiative would empower farmers with the necessary knowledge and resources to embrace ICT in agriculture effectively, enhancing profitability and competitiveness within the value chain.
Professor Ben Banful, Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at KNUST, expressed the university’s commitment to the programme’s success, promising to work diligently with all stakeholders to ensure its triumph.
