The 4th Ghana Agribusiness Leadership and Excellence Awards with the theme: “Sustainable Agribusiness: A Catalyst for Industrial Development, Food Security and Job Creation” has awarded 43 illustrious sector players for their immense contribution to the sector at Marriot Hotel, Accra.
The Chairperson for the awards, Mr. Foster Boateng said to transform agriculture to feed the growing population both in the rural and urban areas, agribusiness is the way.
According to him, Ghana needs to start doing things in more sustainable and structural ways as the population grows. Food supply has changed profoundly due to the increase in population, trade, and having a lot of middle-class people in the urban areas that make changes in their food requirements.
He mentioned that the innovative way to sustain the population growth and to make agriculture attractive to the youth in agribusiness.
The agricultural sector plays a critical role in Ghana’s broader effort to achieve greater industrialization. The sector must therefore be supported in diverse ways to move beyond subsistence production to feed our population to commercial production to feed industry with raw materials for processing, value addition, and export. The Deputy Minister of Trade, Hon. Michael Okyere Baafi said in a speech on behalf of the Minister of Trade, Hon. Alan Kyeremateng.
He underscores the government’s recognition of agriculture as a significant contribution to the National Industrialization Agenda and initiating several programs such as One-District-Factory (1D1F), which seeks to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one that is dependent on the export of raw materials and import of finished goods.
He assured that the government would continue to commit to providing the right policies and a strong regulatory framework to attract more investment opportunities for the farmers, aggregators, agro-processors, transporters, and exporters to ensure a thriving environment that yields positive returns for the agriculture sector.
Farmer Anthony Morrison, the CEO of the Chamber of Agribusiness, Ghana commended the supporting partners and sponsors for making this year’s honorary possible.
He expressed that the Chamber of Agribusiness, Ghana together with its strategic partners and the sponsors is well-positioned to administer these illustrious awards to the deserving players in the value chain.
He called on the stakeholders and private individuals who have a passion for agriculture to build support systems to achieve sustainable food production to feed the growing population.
