Ambassador of Hungary to Ghana, H.E. András Szabó, has called on farmers to adopt research findings, innovative technologies and improve seeds to increase production.
According to him, technological know-how, innovative skills and research based farming methods were essential to the development of the agriculture sector in Ghana.
The Hungarian Ambassador made the call when addressing participants at the first Ghanaian-Hungarian Agriculture forum held in Accra.
H.E. Szabó maintained that the future of Ghana’s agriculture sector was dependent on new innovations, technologies, and improved seeds/methods for large scale food production.
He announced that a team from the Hungarian National Agriculture Research & Innovation Centre was in the country to explore the agriculture sector for a further collaboration with Ghana’s research centres and universities, and also introduce new crops and seeds as well as application of different modules from Europe.
“All these efforts are being done to ascertain the best means of improving agricultural production between the two countries for mutual benefit.
“Aside from this, we had held extensive discussions with some Ghanaian farmers in the area of poultry and animal breeding to strategise on quality meat production,” the Hungarian Ambassador reiterated.
H.E. Szabo also disclosed his country’s intention to construct food processing units to support the current government’s ‘One District, One Factory’ (1D1F) programme.
In his remarks, Chairman of Ghana Poultry Farmers Association, Mr Victor Oppong Agyei, assured the ambassador that local farmers were ready for the introduction of modern technological advancement for poultry production.
He also appealed for modern equipment like processing plants, and also put in place structures to improve and enhance broiler production in the country.
“With such collaborations between the two countries, I believe Ghana can learn, and adopt the technological knowledge to advance the aged methodology of farming for a valuable and desirable improvement of farmers’ condition,” he noted.
Mr Oppong Agyei however, appealed to the Hungarian private sector to take advantage of the numerous investment opportunities to set-up farms to reduce the influx of imported frozen chicken into the country.
For his part, President of National Farmers and Fishers Award Winners Association, Ghana (NFFAG), Mr Davies Korboe, also implored the Hungarian government to make useful investment in the Ghanaian agricultural sector by considering value addition to agro-based products, open up cottage industries and capital injections into existing ones.
This, he said, will help to address some of the challenges including high post-harvest losses and rural infrastructure, being faced by farmers.
Mr Korboe therefore, proposed the formation of Ghana-Hungary Agricultural Chamber to share various ideas and collaborations on farming and value chain.
Story: Franklin Asare-Donkoh