About 700 maize, rice and soya bean value chain farmers and actors from the three regions; Northern, Upper East, and Upper West, of Ghana have met at a day’s forum hosted by the Ghana Grains Council (GGC) in Tamale the Northern Region capital, to interact and establish market linkages to enhance overall efficiency in their industries.

The Tamale forum formed part of the fourth annual Northern Ghana pre- harvest Agribusiness forum, which brought together farmers, buyers, processors, transporters, input dealers and financial institutions.

The event which was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) and implemented by ACDI agricultural technology transfer and the Northern rural growth programme among others, is to enable the actors to learn and share ideas on the seasons production outlook, identify critical actions to build competitive businesses and establish firm marketing relationships for the forthcoming cereal harvest.

This year’s event was on the theme: ‘"connect and collaborate to succeed’’.

Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in-charge of Crops, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, commended the organizers of the forum, saying it held enormous benefits for rural farmers, as they linked with market dealers to find ready markets for their produce.

He urged farmers and other actors in the agribusiness industry to deepen their linkages to improve agricultural production in the country.

‘’There is no country in the world that has developed its economy without agriculture, including the United States of America, which is facilitating this forum so when we say agriculture must be the bedrock of Ghanaian economy we mean exactly that.”

He insisted that projects such as the forum which bring key stakeholders together must be encouraged. USAID Mission Director Jim Bever, said the forum played a critical role in transforming the country’s agriculture sector, lifting people out of poverty, and reducing under-nutrition across the north.

Managing Director of GGC, Dr. Godwin Ansah, said the forum had emerged as one of the finest events in the country’s agricultural industry, adding the cohesion brought about by this event will make a significant impact in driving the attractiveness and resilience of the grains value chain in Ghana.

‘’This annual pre-harvest has emerged as one of the events in Ghana agricultural industry today. Today, it has brought key stakeholders and actors in the grains value chain to the table like never before for the intention of networking, hatching new participants and exploring exciting opportunities. The cohesion brought about by this event will make a significant impact in driving the attractiveness and resilience of the grains value chain in Ghana.’’

In related development, Dupont, an international organization that deals with issues related to agricultural development, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have launched a collaborative programme that will boost maize production among smallholder farmers and help to increase their incomes.

The initiative, which involves an investment of more than US$4 million over the next four years, started in July 2014.

Known as the Ghana Advanced Maize Seed Adoption Program (GAMSAP), the programme is modeled on a similar one undertaken in Ethiopia by ACDI/VOCA.