Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) joins a discussion on Agriculture Innovation for African Conference at UPSA

25-08-2023

Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) joins a discussion on Agriculture Innovation for African Conference at UPSA

Over 1500 people attended the interactive 2-day event at the University for Professional Studies in Accra, which featured 80 speakers and was sponsored by the Kosmos Innovation Centre together with other sector players in the horticulture industry. Empowering young start-ups and Agri-MSMEs in Africa: Advancing Food Security through Innovation and Collaboration were the topics of the forum. Barnabas from the Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) participated in a number of breakout sessions and panel discussions on various subject matters, with a focus on "Promoting an Enabling Ecosystem for Digitalized Agriculture and Innovation in Africa: Accelerating Digital Agriculture Economy through Innovation and Entrepreneurship."

The panel focused on the benefits and difficulties that digitalization brings to Africa in general and the agriculture industry in particular.  In one of the panels, Ato Ulzen-Appiah, an entrepreneurship development specialist at the Kosmos Innovation Centre, shed some light on the types of innovations that are regularly presented to the centre and encouraged the young people to tap into the wealth of knowledge there when they are considering novel ideas because it is possible that someone has already made some progress on them.

Fatima Alimohammed, CEO of the African Brand Warrior, expressed her scepticism about how data from all these digital platforms is being collected and exploited, despite the fact that digitization offers us huge opportunities. Fatima asks who is the owner of the data we produce every day and how much are we using these datasets for our own purposes. She urged greater attention to be paid to indigenous uses of our resources and to Africa. She made mention of a new EU policy on traceability of cocoa, which will outlaw all chocolate from African nations where the source of the cocoa cannot be identified, and she expressed the opinion that Africa offers a sizable market for the consumption of cocoa products. 

Mr. Froid Mendez, a Co-Founder and COO of Farmlogies technology, compared the technology employed in Ghana and India and discussed a number of prospects available to young people and agricultural enthusiasts. A representative from Esoko also provided additional insight into the creation and application of new data technologies in the nation.

On the panel, Barnabas Apom, a Senior Project Manager with the Ghana Netherlands Business and Council (GNBCC), the coordinator facilitating the establishment of a Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) with assistance from the Dutch Embassy, added his voice to the call for digitization in agriculture and urged greater cooperation among various sector players in sharing technologies that benefit farmers and participants in the value chain.

He also used the occasion to discuss about the Horticulture Business Platform (HBP), which was established with GNBCC's assistance to bring participants in the horticulture sector together for B2B networking activities, information sharing, and acting as a voice that would influence policy. Additionally, he extended an invitation to join the upcoming HBP sensitization session being held in HO on August 29, 2023. This event, which is one in a series of events, is intended to bring together industry participants and encourage them to join the Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) and contribute to the industry.

He also urged sector participants to attend the three (3) day fruits and vegetable fair that will be held at the Parks and Gardens in Accra from September 27 through September 29 as part of the HBP Collaboration with the Ghana Vegetables Association. The other panellist did concur that in order for us to fully benefit from the latest advancements, we must all work together and exchange more information among ourselves. our is especially true in our digital and quickly changing world.

Please click here to learn more about the fruit and vegetable fair.

Please click here to learn more and join the Horticulture Business Platform.

Barnabas K. Apom – Senior Project Manager

GNBCC | News