A Dutch-based development organisation, Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), in collaboration with the Horticulture Business Platform (HBP), has held horticulture stakeholders’ meetings to help improve the horticulture industry.

The meeting, which was held in Accra, formed part of IDH’s initiative to transform markets through collaborative innovation, convening and sustainable solutions that enable businesses to create value for people and the planet.

It aimed at ensuring “sustainable development of the horticulture value chain in Ghana, creating market linkages, improving local sourcing and building thriving and empowered horticulture agribusinesses”.

It welcomed scores of market women, farmers, manufacturers and officials of strategic institutions, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to share their experiences in the industry.

Challenge

In an interview with the  Daily Graphic, the HBP Project Coordinator, Barnabas Apom, said the programme would help stakeholders understand the horticulture market and how to access it as “this has been a major challenge for the sector in the past years.

“We are hoping that this programme will, first of all, help to streamline markets for people within the sector. There are a lot of people who are producing and sometimes, they do not know where to even sell it. We want them to be able to find a market within HBP,” he said.

He underscored the need for stakeholders to work together to have expansive projects as a group to reap the full benefit of the sector, instead of working on their own as very small-scale industries.

Mr Apom indicated that the HBP, in Collaboration with IDH and Mastercard Foundation, would hold a major fair in Accra from September 5 to 7, 2024, to bring together stakeholders to showcase their produce the available market and their potential partners that would be present at the fair.

Investment

The Country Director of IDH, Robert Asugre, lamented inadequate investments in the horticulture industry which had made production costly as compared to similar produce imported from other countries in the subregion.

He said the HBP would collaborate with IDH to work with seed producers and the ministries to ascertain local viable seed to be made available and affordable for local producers.

 “We can provide local viable seeds to make a lot of the producers have access to affordable seeds to produce more. Access to working capital is also important. A lot of these businesses do not have affordable capital, which is an area that we need to also focus on,” Mr Asugre stated.

Mr Asugre added that the lack of infrastructure in terms of irrigation facilities had limited the production capacity of farmers during the off-season.

This, according to him, limited production during off seasons, adding that with minimal investment, the state could build new smart irrigation facilities that could be used to support the producers to produce viable seeds for cultivation all year round.