The Government has commended the contribution of the Hortifresh West Africa programme, which is a follow-up project to the GhanaVeg programme implemented in 2013, towards developing a competitive horticulture sub-sector in Ghana.
The Hortifresh programme has improved the knowledge and income of over 15 000 family farms, created over 3,000 jobs, adopted research results and certification, and financed more than 30 small and medium enterprises.
Dr. Solomom Gyan Ansah, the Director of Agriculture, Directorate of Crop Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, made the commendation at the close-out ceremony of the Hortifresh West Africa Programme in Accra.
The event themed, “Sustaining Gains made for A Competitive Horticulture Sector,” was used to launch two new reports on Greenhouse Cucumber and Tomato production.
The programme, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra, is focused on the fruit and vegetable sectors in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. A consortium of partners is implementing the programme (SNV, Resilience, Advance Consulting and Sense led by the Wageningen University and Research).
Hortifresh provides sustainable livelihood
Dr. Ansah said the programme has positively impacted people’s lives by creating sustainable livelihoods, improved access to inputs, finance, technical support, and market access.
“Some key outputs of our collaboration include the development of onion, mango, tomato, and peri-urban clusters and preparatory works towards forming the Horticulture Development Authority. The programme also provided support for knowledge transfer from the trained agronomist to smallholder farmers in their areas of operations.”
Dr. Solomom Gyan Ansah
Dr. Ansah said the government’s new direction for national development within the period 2017-2024 is to create the conditions for the Ghanaian private sector to propel growth and create ample employment opportunities, especially for the youth.
He said this required stabilizing the economy and putting it on the path of strong, diversified, and resilient growth.
“The strengthening of the horticulture sub-sector along the value chain with attention to value addition and market access is high on the Ministry’s developmental agenda, which we are pursuing vigorously with our relevant partners.”
Dr. Solomom Gyan Ansah
The horticultural sub-sector has played a crucial role in Ghana’s economy as it provided income, foreign exchange, employment, and ensured food security, adding that the sector also has the potential for diversifying Ghana’s export base.
Network of horticulture actors applauded
Dr. Irene Koomen, Coordinator of the Hortifresh programme, said it had been a transformation programme, focusing on production or export and looking at many elements that contributed to the sector’s transformation.
Mrs. Shelia Assibey-Yeboah, the Programme Manager of Hortifresh, said the main objective includes improving productivity, facilitating more efficient markets, improving the business climate, professionalizing the value chain, and linking actors with the European Union private sector.
“New norms had been created over the years, markets have shifted, government and private sectors have engaged more, and transparent business processes seem more efficiently organized.”
Mrs. Shelia Assibey-Yeboah
Over time, the sector is responding better to initiatives put forward during implementation, said Mrs. Shelia Assibey-Yeboah.
“We, therefore, highly applaud the network of horticulture actors that you all have become, visionary, dynamic, and resilient,” she added.
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