The success of any agricultural transformation relies on how well scores of smallholders and small- and medium-size enterprises can be helped to change farming practices as quickly and as effectively as possible. The critical enabler, without whom an agricultural transformation is likely to fail, is a frontline “change agent” that helps farmers modify their practices. Change agents are people who farmers trust and interact with regularly.
To catalyse this, a change agent might be the person providing extension knowledge, offering financing for farming inputs such as fertilizer, aggregating crops, or facilitating marketing services. For example, a change agent can help farmers make the transition from growing wheat to more complicated but lucrative opportunities such as raising tomatoes, vegetables, and plantation crops.
The 9th edition of the Annual Pre-harvest Conference and Exhibitions billed for the Northern Regional capital, Tamale will once again provide stakeholders a unique opportunity to epitomize the ‘change agent ‘role in the and agric industry and consequently take advantage of the event’s modules designed by the organisers to help participating firms go a notch higher in their quest for improved efficiency and growth.
This year, the annual agricultural showpiece organized by, Agri-house Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Northern Development Authority, Yara Ghana, Ecobank, Kosmos Energy, The Made Programme and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ADVANCE is set to bring together stakeholders within and without the local agricultural sector to interact, share expertise and do business form September 25-27, 2019.
Set to retain the 3-day expansive duration introduced last year, this year’s pre-harvest event will be held at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, where an estimated 3000 plus participants are expected to savour what is unarguably the single biggest gathering of agric industry firms on a unique platform designed to facilitate knowledge exchange and business development.
Event Rationale
Consistent with its core mission of inspiring agric-sector growth through innovation and a collective stakeholder resolve, Agri-house Foundation and its partners seek to assist farmers and agri-businesses to expand their businesses before and after harvesting, and to create enabling environment for new partnerships to promote the growth of Ghana’s agricultural sector.
The choice of northern Ghana is a deliberate strategy by organisers to incite a collective focus on the agricultural potential of the northern zone and the vast irrigation possibilities that remain unexploited.
Billed under the theme, “Market accessibility: The Structured and Sustainable Pathway”, the Pre-harvest Agribusiness Exhibition and Conference is an interventional forum that presents realistic opportunities for various value chain actors in the agric sector to meet, discuss business, contracts and work together as a coherent team whose goal is to ensure that enough produce is available locally for consumption; thereby mitigating the risks associated with excessive importation. The annual agric showpiece is made up of farmers, public and private sector business officials and other stakeholders who collectively share an innate desire to see an improved agricultural sector for Ghana.
For a period of three (3) days, the event will provide participants a platform where diverse services linked to the agric sector, such as seed production, fertilizer, finance, fisheries, storage, machinery, livestock, and packaging & processing, ICT, among others, will interact for mutually beneficial ends.
Participants will be taken through practical and engaging sessions at the conference to enable them gain deeper insights into best practices as well as how to take full advantage of the numerous opportunities in the agric sector for growth and expansion.
Last year, the event recorded a total of 3,122 participants and 141 exhibitors including farmers, traders, commodity brokers, input companies, machinery and equipment providers, transporters, financial institutions, ICT, Innovations, Poultry and Livestock companies, packaging and processing companies, development practitioners and government agencies, among others; and subsequently clinched the Agribusiness event of the Year award.
Reviews from 98% of participants (especially exhibitors and farmers) in 2018 indicate the tremendous impact, the event made in linking farmers to buyers, signing of long-term contracts for various commodity supplies, increase in sales of machines, equipment and input, leading to the growth, expansion and establishing of branch offices in districts and regional capitals.
Over 50% of Processers have been exposed to and gone ahead to sign distribution contracts with individuals, shops and business entities.
Also, feedback from participants in the Training and Demonstration session indicates a high impact made in Agribusiness mindset, adaptation of best practices, whiles a number of beginner agribusinesses present have been able to kick-start their businesses. A number are still in touch with the Trainers, who are mentoring and guiding them on a regular basis, in laying the foundation of their businesses.
“The Pre-harvest occasion is a major interventional exhibition and conference, which also seeks to accelerate the transformation of agribusiness in Northern Ghana. It also aims to get the agribusiness sector to influence transformation, with the heightened focus on public-private partnerships, investment opportunities and creation of an action-driven blueprint for an increasingly sustainable agricultural movement.”
The 9th Pre-harvest event is expected to attract not less than 3000 participants and exhibitors including farmers, traders, commodity brokers, input companies, machinery and equipment providers, transporters, financial institutions, ICT, Innovations, Poultry and Livestock companies, packaging and processing companies, development practitioners and government agencies, among others.
The 9th Pre-harvest has been structured to combine Training programs, keynotes, panel and open discussions, field visits, demonstrations, exhibitions, to capture issues impacting agricultural market access and linkages.
Organizers believe that the showpiece will ultimately help address and find lasting solutions to a myriad of challenges confronting the industry today by
assisting farmers and agri-businesses expand their businesses before and after harvest and creating an enabling environment for new partnerships to promote the growth of Ghana’s agricultural sector.
Similarly, the organizers hope the event will help farmers adopt best practices and provide a platform for commodity buyers and farmers to establish business relationships and discuss contracts for the harvest of their produce (i.e. building market linkages).
The event also sufficiently offers a sustainable interactive occasion for development partners, donor agencies, farmers, corporate bodies, civil society and government to rethink and find a common solution to critical issues like pricing, marketing and warehousing.
Started in October 2010 in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana by the USAID ADVANCE, the Annual Pre-harvest Agribusiness Exhibitions and Conference event allows for further growth, sustainability and expansion.
The USAID ADVANCE project has partnered with and subsequently handed over the organization of Pre-Harvest event to Agrihouse Foundation.
At a recent media launch organised by the event’s organisers, addressing the media, the chief sponsors at the media interaction (Yara Ghana, Ecobank, Kosmos Energy, The Made Programme) unanimously affirmed that the Pre-Harvest Conference & Exhibition event has become a national success. They said that the event has stood out as one that unarguably platform, that provides unique and valuable service to the entire agricultural sector in Ghana, and that it’s growing consistence and relevance is largely responsible for their unrelenting support over the years since its inception nine years ago.
Event Structure
For optimum impact, the organizers, together with its partners, have designed event sessions to give participants in-depth insight into the state of the industry today and the opportunities that lie ahead. Commodity Break-out session, Intensive and focused Training Programs, Farmer-to-Buyer Dialogue, Development Partner Forum are some of the sessions designed for the benefit of participants.
In the same strain, Panel Education sessions will revolve around pertinent topics like Climate-smart agricultural approach and practices, Achieving an innovative integrated food security & nutrition results, Market accessibility pathway, Production, process and export impact to rural development and food security.
Training Sessions designed to improve the capacity of participants for improved productivity will bother on Warehousing and Storage technologies for post-harvest losses, Basic-to-advanced Financial Literacy education for Farmer Groups, Improving high and quality yields through appropriate production practices, Branding for Marketing Commercial Impact, Going digital to promote and grow your market, Developing a Business plan and Negotiation Skills .
Other pertinent topics to be addressed include: How will Ghana’s Agric Sector look like in 2023?; What collective role can stakeholders play to change the face of the Agricultural sector, with a focus on input, production, processing, finance, branding, packaging and market accessibility?; Together, what can Government and Corporate organizations do to support and bridge the gap of pricing and access?; How structured and competitive are Government’s projects, subsidy and initiatives impacting on the markets and accessibility?; What Technological Innovations in Agriculture can attract the Modern Youth?; How do we breed the next generation of Agricultural Entrepreneurs?, etc.
There will also be a Business-to-Business Matchmaking session, Educational Field Trips, Policy Dialogue: Fertilizer subsidy policy boost / Update on Export for rural development and Exhibitions.
The Trainers and Resource Persons for the Training and capacity building sessions have been drawn from experienced practitioners from Partnering organizations, including Yara Ghana, Ecobank, Kosmos Energy, The Made Programme and the USAID ADVANCE Programme.
