In a bid to bolster economic resilience, the Netherlands has announced plans to invest some 4 million euros in Ghana’s agricultural industry.
This effort, according to them forms part of its aim to strengthen the economic and bilateral relations between them and Ghana.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Adenta Community Garden and Opening of the Fruits and Vegetables Fair held in Adenta Frafraha Community School on May 22, 2024, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E Mrs Lieje Schreinemacher expressed commitment to strengthening economic ties with Ghana.
She said, “The amount we invest in Ghana right now is 20 million euros and out of that we hope to invest specifically 4 million euros in agriculture. And this is to ensure that local farmers make sure that they work sustainably and also that it is scalable and also need to work to achieve food security and we as the Netherlands want to help you achieve this.”
Meanwhile, addressing demand and supply challenges in the horticulture industry, the lead for IDH, Robert Asugre indicated that it is currently engaging stakeholders to find solutions to enhance productivity.
He added that his outfit’s partnership with the government of the Netherlands seeks to provide opportunities for actors in the horticulture sector to thrive.
The market is there; I mean the demand for these vegetables is very high just that we don’t have enough production to meet the demands. And so, there is a big gap in demand and supply situation and that is what this partnership seeks to address. We are working with producers and market to design optic planning and sourcing roadmap for us to be able to supply to the market locally and internationally.”
The Fruits and Vegetable Fair is an initiative of the Horticultural Business Platform (HBP) in collaboration with its partners aimed at bringing together local producers and allowing them access to a greater range of wholesalers and retailers.
The fair provided a platform for about twenty-five fruit and vegetable vendors exhibiting and offering sale, their products and services to the public.
The Coordinator of the HBP, Barnabas Apom however spoke to Citi News about plans to expand the initiative to other regions to support the businesses in the horticulture sector.
He said, “We have decided to bring these people together businesses in the horticulture industry from the smallest to the biggest and our objective is to drive their activities based on their interests. The first one is most of the business want to expand but they don’t have money. There are a lot of people who are also looking for market for their products and other things so that is why we decided to do this, and we hope to scale this to other regions.”
Source: Businessweekghana