The Country Representative of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Ghana, Dr. Lamourdia Thiombiano, has called for a stronger collaboration between the FAO, public education institutions, ministries and government agencies in order to develop the next generation of researchers, scientists and extension officers working in support of agriculture sector reform.

The Soil Scientist, who was speaking to journalists at a ceremony to donate over 13 thousand FAO publication on a wide range of agriculture subjects to selected public and private educational institutions, some Ministries Department and Agencies said  building knowledge institutions with the technical capacity to support education, research and agricultural development is an important priority for the Ghanaian government in its efforts to accelerate the modernization of the country’s agriculture sector. 

“Knowledge dissemination is key to technology adoption and the improvement of traditional methods and approaches for agriculture production, protection, processing and value addition” he added. 

Dr. Thiombiano identified capacity building through widening channels to knowledge and information as essential to strengthening research and development within Ghana’s agriculture sector.    

He said “the FAO looks forward to building further partnerships on enhancing access to knowledge and expanding information networks for agriculture development in Ghana and the region beyond”.

FAO Ghana has opened  access to its library in support of Ghanaian secondary and university students with an interest in rural development and agricultural sciences and has contributed to enhanced knowledge and understanding of the country’s agriculture sector.

In an address the Deputy Minister for Education Mr. Alex Kyeremeh commended the FAO for the kind gesture and appealed to other corporate organizations to continuously select some critical publications for reprinting to update knowledge and skills in the system.

He said such gestures will be another way of enhancing learning and subsequently improving the knowledge base of the country’s citizenry.

The recipients of the FAO publications included the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, College of Agriculture & Consumer Sciences University of Ghana, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies Bunsu, University of Development Studies Library, St. John Grammar School, Odogonnor Senior High School and St. Thomas Aquainas Senior High School.

The rest are, Wesley Grammar Senior High, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Cape Coast, Institute of Tropical Agriculture (Kita), Damongo Agricultural College, Ejura Agriculture College, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, the Ghana Library Authority, the Forestry commission, and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (Food Research Institute, Animal Research Institute, Forestry Research Institute) all under the CSIR.12