The Brazil Agrishow 2020 stakeholders’ meeting has been held at the Brazilian Embassy in Accra. The stakeholders’ meeting was under the theme: “Doing business with Brazil agriculture”. The Agrishow is the 3rd largest Agric show in the world.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting, the CEO, Ghana Investment Promotions Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yofi Grant stressed the contributions of neoteric technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the agricultural sector. “From using blockchain technologies for traceability of animal protein to applying drones to map and seed the land, those technologies can increase farmer’s productivity and yields as well as provide safer and fresher products to the final consumer”, he illustrated.
In an interview with Agric Today, the CEO asserted that the meeting aims at how new technology can exponentiate agriculture production, discuss market availability, opportunities, and challenges, also demonstrate the mutual interest in conducting bilateral business in both the public and private spheres.
Discussing the accessibility of financial support to the stakeholders in the value chain, he established that access to finance has been a recurring issue but advised that both the public and the private sector can blend their resources to increase productivity.
“Mitigating risks, the finance-insurance frameworks should be strengthened to support green financing to boost yields and blending of public and private sector resources should be encouraged to increase access to finance”, he noted.
The Brazilian ambassador, Her Excellency Maria Elisa De Luna, expounds on the long-standing history of collaboration between Brazil and Ghana, particularly in Agriculture. Both Ghana and Brazil are working together to strengthen the cashew and rice sectors. Trade-in agriculture between both regions has the potentials to unlock valuable economic opportunities.
“Challenges and Opportunities for deeper trade and investment relations on both sides of multilateral and bilateral frameworks, increasing the flow of agritech and Agri services and mastering long-term economic relations and the role of the private sector and civil society in Ghana are the perimeters to solve storage and processing problems”, she stated.
The Second Secretary and Head of Trade and Investment at the Brazilian embassy added that the Brazilian agribusiness sector now has new technologies. As a recount of Brazil’s contribution to food security in the globe, he announced that Brazil is the main exporter of coffee, sugar, orange juice, poultry, meat, corn and soybean and as a results Brazil holds a prominent position in the challenge of securing enough food to a growing world population of 9.7 billion by 2050.
He encouraged Ghana to speed up with their growth rate in the agricultural sector and follow suit to the contribution to food security and economic development as her counterpart Brazil is doing. He shared the sentiment that Ghana is endowed with arable land as Brazil but should employ technology in the sector to produce a higher yield.
The Executive Director of Agrichouse foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa gave a review of last year’s event. According to her, the event provided an efficient interface between investors/resources and execution/action through the provision of an integrated service platform. Challenges of the complexity of any scale were addressed, training farmers as well as bringing sound and efficient solutions from all corners of the world in the agriculture sector, and overriding vision serves to shorten the time frame in which Ghana takes to tackle its self-sufficiency in both production and food security for the continental level and beyond.
Being optimistic about this year’s Agrishow, the Executive Director explained the significance of patronizing such a world-class event. “The side-event will be an opportunity for exhibitors, sponsors, participants, and other organizations to showcase products, expertise and best practices in providing cooperation on agriculture and rural development, to improve food security through better crops, higher agricultural productivity, irrigation techniques, etc.” she stated.
The event will also help highlight the importance of cooperation in agriculture coming from middle-income countries to the benefit of the least developed countries.
The next Brazil – Ghana program 2020 will take place from April 24th to 27th at Reinairo in Brazil and representatives from governments, the private sector, academia, and potential investors will exchange experiences, discuss valuable opportunities and promote knowledge in the agricultural sector.
