The event has over the last seven years been organized by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Agricultural Development and Value Enhancement (ADVANCE) project.      Dr Emmanuel Dormon, the Chief of Party, ADVANCE Programme, at a media briefing on the forthcoming conference said, the event was to give market access to farmers to sell their produce.

The Exhibition and Conference is a business forum and an interventional platform that provides opportunities for various value chain actors in the agriculture sector to meet and discuss business, contracts and work together as a coherent team, whose goal is to ensure that enough produce is available locally for consumption, thereby drastically reducing importation.

"It is also to bring farmers closer to value-chain actors," he added. He said over the years, the event had been organized for just a day, but having partnered Agrihouse and with their experience, they decided to experiment a three-day event to meet the demands of farmers.

Mr Danquah Addo-Yobo, the Chief Executive Officer, Yara Ghana Limited, said the Company had been working on the USAID ADVANCE Programme to promote agriculture in the country. He said last year, the Company organised 290 demonstration fields together with the programme.

He said the result from the demonstration fields were numerous, and expressed the hope that they would be able to do similar demonstrations to educate farmers on what works and what does not work.

He said it was exciting to be part of an opportunity to bring value-chain partners together to promote the agriculture sector.      "It is an opportunity to bring end to end value-chain partners together to address demands," he added. Ms Ruth Adatsi, the Communications Manager for Kosmos Energy Ghana, said Kosmos Energy Ghana has launched a new flagship corporate social investment programme, called the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC).

She said the KIC focused on the nexus between information and communications technology (ICT) and agriculture, with the goal of inspiring entrepreneurs to transform Ghana’s agriculture sector.

"The KIC begins its work by choosing an area of focus from one of Ghana’s many different sectors," she said.   Mr Haidar Malhas, the Irrigation Services Manager, Interplast, said the Company decided to support the event, because it believed the agricultural sector needed technology to boost production.

He said the fact that farmers had restricted options in selecting irrigation facilities it has limited their adoption of irrigation technologies in the country.     "We are supporting the event to introduce our new irrigation material to famers and stakeholders and to educate them on its importance," he said.

On her part, the Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, organizers of the event, Alberta Nana Akyea Akosa said, the 8th edition of the event was expected to see an even bigger participation, as more and more famers, farmer groups and businesses in the sector had expressed interest in participating.

She said this year’s edition has attracted a lot of inputs from the private sector and international organizations, which would make it an exciting experience.     The Executive Director said “Agribusiness is the way to go in poverty reduction and national development. “I am elated and grateful to the various institutions that have seen wisdom in this idea and have supported it over the years."

The World Food Programme is the event partner.