Mercy Afrowa Needjan
President of the Greater Accra Markets Association, Mercy Afrowa Needjan, has called on stakeholders to strengthen collaborations with the agricultural sector.
According to her, a strong collaboration will help to regenerate Ghana’s markets, enhance competition in the local and international markets, and create sustainable jobs.
Madam Needjan said, “Our markets are the lifeblood of the agricultural and informal sector and a major source of revenue for MMDAs and the economy at large,”
“By revitalising the informal sector, which forms over 70 per cent of our national economy, we will enhance competition in the domestic and international markets and create job opportunities that drive economic growth” she pointed out.
She challenged the private sector to join hands with the markets and agricultural industry to establish processing hubs across the country where farm produce can be processed for domestic and international consumption.
This she believes will help to reduce post-harvest losses, create jobs, and generate income for stakeholders in the agriculture value chain.
She made the appeal at the 4th annual National Precision Quality (PQ) Conference organised by the Design & Technology Institute (DTI) under the auspices of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET).
The PQ conference was to highlight the critical role of labour market information systems in stimulating job creation.
The conference was under the broad topic of utilizing LMIS to galvanise job creation, strengthen the collaboration among stakeholders and brought together representatives from the public and private sectors, youth organisations, and the media to deliberate on the importance of developing a robust LMIS that effectively addresses the employment needs of Ghanaians.
Madam Needjan mentioned that partnership with DTI through the PQ training has enhanced the skills and practices of members of the market associations to improve the quality of their goods and services to generate more income.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Nafisatu Abdul Razak