Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia
The 8th edition of the annual Pre-harvest Exhibition and Conference is set to bring Tamale, the Northern regional capital, to a standstill from 3-5 October, 2018.
This year, the annual agricultural showpiece, organized by Agri-house Foundation, in partnership with the World Food Programme, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Northern Regional Coordinating Council and the Northern Development Authority, is set to bring together stakeholders in the local agricultural sector and beyond to interact, share expertise and do business.
It will take place at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, where an estimated 2,000 participants are expected to savour arguably the single biggest gathering of agric-industry firms on a unique platform designed to facilitate knowledge exchange and business development.
Themed, ‘Agribusiness in Northern Ghana, the Future Starts Now,’ the keynote address will be delivered by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana.
Other speakers are the United States Ambassador to Ghana, The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Country Representative of World Food Programme (WFP).
Alberta Akosa, Team Lead for Agrihouse Foundation, organizers of the event said, “The occasion is a major interventional exhibition and conference, which seeks to accelerate the transformation of agribusiness in Northern Ghana.”
For the first time since its inception in 2011, the 8th Pre-harvest event is expected to attract 2,000 participants and exhibitors, including farmers, traders, commodity brokers, input companies, machinery and equipment providers, transporters, financial institutions and ICT experts, among others.
The advent of new technologies and their impact on farmers’ productivity will be a key feature of a panel discussion at the Pre-harvest event under the Agri-tech workshop.
It will also showcase ideas like agriculture incubation, a soil testing van, Aflasafe and Ripping technologies, among others.
Participating institutions in this session will include Kosmos Energy, OCP, IITA and John Deere.
Also there will be separate workshops to discuss ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ (PFJ), with a presentation by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture on the PFJ’s goals, targets and progress to date.
Another theme to be discussed at the event will be ‘Youth in Agribusiness.”
Panelists have been drawn from World Food Programme, YARA Ghana, USAID, KOICA, UK, the Dutch Embassy and the Youth in Agric Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Additionally, there will be sessions, including Custom & Contract Farming and Farming with Purpose’ to be led by the World Food Programme, Seed Quality by Nastag, RMG, Dizengoff and Mofa Seed Inspection Unit; Agric Financing led by Ecobank, Mel Consulting, GIPC and GEPA.
Sponsors include Yara Ghana, Mel Consulting, Ecobank, Kosmos Energy, Interplast Limited, Motor King, Hatoum Trading, LK International, RMG, Dizengoff and Tata John Deere.