Ghana-Hungary Partnership to Boost Agricultural Production

The Ambassador of Hungary to Ghana, His Excellency Mr András Szabó, has underscored the importance of innovation and research to the development of the agricultural sector in Ghana.

His Excellency Szabó, who was addressing participants at the first Ghanaian-Hungarian Agriculture Forum in Accra, yesterday, said the future of agriculture and extra production, rather than small-scale farming, would be dependent on new innovations and technologies, and through research.

H.E. Szabo disclosed that a team from the Hungarian National Agriculture Research & Innovation Center was, therefore, in Ghana on a fact-finding mission about Ghana's agricultural sector.

He said the team would explore the Agriculture sector for a further collaboration with Ghana's research centres and universities, the introduction of Hungarian crops and seeds, and the application of different modules from Europe to ascertain the best means of improving agricultural production in Ghana for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

He disclosed that his government had also held extensive discussions with some Ghanaian farmers in the poultry and animal breeding industry to strategize on quality meat production.

H.E. Szabo pledged the Hungarian government's readiness to support the Ghana government's 'One-District, One-Factory' (1D1F) programme with the construction of food processing units.

In his remarks, Mr Victor Oppong Agyei, Chairman of the Ghana Poultry Farmers Association, said local farmers were ready for the introduction of modern poultry equipment like processing plants and modern poultry houses to improve and enhance broiler production in the country.

'My recent visit to Hungary has given me a clear indication of the capabilities and importance of Hungarian Agriculture potential and expertise of modern quality innovative technologies applied to the country's agriculture and with a collaborative effort Ghana can learn, adopt and implement their technological knowledge to advance the aged methodology of farming for a valuable and desirable improvement of our condition,' he emphasized.

Mr Agyei appealed to the Hungarian private sector to support Ghanaian poultry farmers to expand and to be able to compete with the influx of imported frozen chicken.

In a statement, Mr Davies Korboe, President of National Farmers and Fishers Award Winners Association, Ghana (NFFAG) urged the Hungarian government to make useful investments into the Ghanaian agricultural sector by considering value addition/cottage industries and capital injections.

This, Korboe said, would help address some of the challenges including high post-harvest losses and outmoded infrastructure, being faced by Ghanaian farmers for the mutual benefit of both countries.

He, therefore, called for the formation of the Ghana-Hungary Agricultural Chamber to help share ideas and collaborate on farming and the value chain.

Source: ISD (Eva Frempon-Ntiamoah)

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