The Netherlands has been put to work with Ghanaian horticultural farmers and entrepreneurs for many years and fancy the sector as one of the most striking driver for economical growth in Ghana . There are three main grounds to further strengthen the partnership in horticulture : economic growth , improved diet , and utilisation possibilities .
Economic growthThe agrarian sector is important for the Ghanaian economy . Almost 20 % of the GDP is linked to agriculture ( GSS , 2022 ) and accounts for over 30 % of exportation net ( FAO , 2023 ) . Both for the domesticated and export marketplace , the horticultural value chain wreak a significant role in the thriftiness , and the sphere is growing on average by 10 % . Compared to the average of 3.3 % of the unspecific agricultural sphere , the market opportunities in vegetable and fruit production are significant .
presently , Ghana is mainly acquire tomato , pepper , onion , and okra , but also many of these products are being imported from palisade commonwealth , principally originating from Burkina Faso , Niger , Cameroon , and Togo . Ghana only produces 5 percentage of the onions it consumes topically , and there are indications that the Kumasi and Accra food market alone already spell 120 million dollars deserving of fresh and dry onion plant ( RVO , 2021 ) . In totality , Ghana is importing 3.4 billion dollars in mainly march agrifoods . The shifting security situation in the Sahel is on occasion pose pressure on some of those imports , as we have seen with haltering trade flow of Nigerien onions and Burkinabé tomatoes .
This poses a challenge for Ghana as the average inlet of unused vegetables by Ghanaians is already relatively small liken to its regional neighbors .
Improved dietsThe Global Nutrition Report point that the consumption of vegetable in Ghana is only 46 % of the urge amount for healthy living . On modal , a person should run through a lower limit of 400 gm of fruit and veg per day ( FAO / WHO ) . In Ghana , not even the intake of 200 g is currently being met . This is part due to the comparatively high prices of veg and fruit . The Ghana Living Standards Survey indicated that 13 % of total food expenditure is going to vegetable , in the main tomato ( 36 % ) , onions ( 19 % ) and chilies ( 10 % ) . One important way to tackle high solid food price is to start producing more and more expeditiously . That is why the Netherlands is joining forces with enterprisingness all over Ghana that maximize horticultural production as well as concentrate the cost of product .
Key area of aid are the growing of sustainable crop value chains , meliorate access to securities industry and admission to finance , the breeding of Fannie Farmer on dependable agricultural practices and entrepreneurial science , and finally , access to new and improved fruit and veggie diversity . More production leads to increment of the sphere , leading to a higher need for farming service and growth of the value chain .
Increasing employmentCurrently , the agrarian sector is the biggest employer in Ghana . Roughly 36 % of the 31 million Ghanaians are working in the sphere ( GSS 2019 ) , amount to 11 million people in total . Many of them are , however , considered to be active on a very small scale . Currently , 77 % of the 11 million are considered to be subsistence farmers ( FAO ) . The governments of Ghana and the Netherlands partake the perspective that this should be dissimilar .
It is widely acknowledge that small and average enterprises form the vertebral column of the economy . They lead to economic emergence , industrialisation , and the cosmos of job . That is why the Netherlands is partnering with a bombastic group of stakeholders , include the Ministry of Food and Agriculture , on supporting the Ghanian food system , rise it into an environment where horticultural farmers and enterpriser can fly high .
That is why the Netherlands is crop together with the Kwadaso Agricultural College , the Technical University of Delft , and Dutch company Holland Greentech on improve horticultural curricula , introducing courses sharpen on farming as a business . East West Seed Knowledge Transfer is currently training 12.000 farmers in the Ashanti and Western region on the use of good agrarian practices and the use of quality hybrid source . Several initiatives in the Netherlands are look at providing up - to - date weather data for open - field of operation farmers to increase productivity and introduce digital solutions in the horticultural value strand .
The jobs created will moderate to more income , more companies , more problem , better timber and nutritious food , enabled through win - win partnerships . An example of that partnership can be seen at the opening of the Fruit and Vegetable Fair , organized for the seventh metre , this clip by the recently founded Horticultural Business Platform ( HBP ) . This raw organization is a platform for farmers , cooperatives , governments , entrepreneur , knowledge institute , Ghanaian and Dutch private sphere , and developing partners to come together . The platform will build up bridges , facilitate partnerships , and provide first - hand information on the indigence of the sector . Stakeholders concerned in the HBP can institutionalize an electronic mail to[email protected]for more information .
As Ghana is moving beyond aid , the Netherlands is place in deepen the partnership on craft and investiture between the body politic . The Netherlands is the second agricultural exporter in the mankind , in absolute full term , export 105 billion euros , which is around 1.3 trillion cedi every year . Of this amount , 160 billion cedi is exported in fruit and veg . We have agricultural consumer products to volunteer , but also planting materials , innovative technologies , experience , expertise , and so much more that can help oneself Ghana make the require leap forward in the horticulture sector . From this perspective of partnership , the future of horticulture in Ghana looks bright .
Source : agroberichtenbuitenland.nl
