The Hortifresh-Ghana project, in collaboration with the Chamber for Agro-businesses, has opened a two-day fruit and vegetable fair at Tuobodom, in the Techiman North District of the Bono East Region.
Horti-fresh is a project helping to improve vegetable and fruit production in the country while the Chamber is a rallying movement working to improve and sustain national food security for wealth creation.
Agro-inputs dealers, vegetable and fruit farmers as well as companies in sectors drawn from Techiman North and Offinso North District of the Ashanti Region are attending the fair to build networks and stronger collaborations.
The fair, sponsored by the Netherlands Embassy in Ghana, further sought to achieve a sustainable and internationally-competitive fruit and vegetable sector that would contribute to economic growth.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Hilarion Nyarko, an Agronomist Advisor, HortiFresh project, explained the fair provided a platform for fruits and vegetable farmers and input dealers to collaborate, identify and help to tackle bottlenecks in the sector and also increase market avenues for farmers.
He said healthy fruits and vegetables would increase food nutrition and contribute to all-inclusive economic growth, saying the fair, first of its kind would also create market links to farmers.
Mr Charles Takyi, the Techiman North District Chairman of the local Tomato Farmers Association, described the fair as timely, saying it would introduce tomato farmers to best farming practices, improve yields and provide them with opportunities to build networks.
He appealed to the government to build irrigation and storage facilities to improve fruits and vegetable production in the country.
Skynewsroom
