The Northern Development Authority (NDA) in its efforts to improve upon the agricultural gains in Northern Ghana is exploring investment opportunities with South African-based Agribusinesses in the Savannah ecological zone.
The Authority on Thursday, September 16th, 2021 facilitated a meeting between Agri-businesses in Northern Ghana and their counterparts in South Africa. The agribusinesses from South Africa with expertise in the agricultural value chain included Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC), African Fertilizers and Agribusiness Partnership, Bagtech, Cubicool, Mariswe, and Rotrix Africa. The rest are Freshmark Systems, SBS Agric, Southern Mapping, and Wesgro.
Addressing the gathering of stakeholders in the agribusiness sector in Northern Ghana and South Africa at the Modern City Hotel, the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority, Mr. Sumaila Abdul Rahaman said the engagement with the investors from South Africa falls in line with the mandate of the authority which is a vehicle to accelerate the overall social-economic development of the zone and to complement government’s aggressive campaign and intervention such as the Planting for Food and Jobs, One Village One Dam, One District One Factory and One Constituency One Million Dollars among others.
Mr. Abdul Rahaman noted the NDA has the responsibility to coordinate all development initiatives which includes security, agriculture, poverty eradication, and livelihood support programs. Adding “if you look at the kind of work we have done and the presentations were done, it falls in line with the work of NDA and agriculture mechanization is key on the agenda which will soon materialize and boost productivity in northern.”
Board Chairman of the NDA, Dr. Sulemana Abdulai on his part said the meeting is to create opportunities for Ghanaian investors to be able to interact with other investors in other parts of the world especially South Africa.
He noted there are a lot of opportunities and since most of the participants are entrepreneurs who are into agricultural inputs, processing, packaging, livestock, and peasant farming, the platform created by NDA will enable them to interact with their South African counterparts, share ideas, and network to improve their businesses and investment opportunities.
The leader of the South African Agribusiness Delegation to Northern Ghana, Mr. Hennie van der Merwe in an interview with mynorthtoday.com disclosed that they believe in agribusiness opportunities in Northern Ghana and wanted to meet key players to get a better understanding of what the sector is all about to enable them to add value to the agribusinesses in the north.
He said the delegation comprised of agribusiness technology companies with vast experience in the general agribusiness value chain from livestock and crop production, agro-pricing, mechanization, etc.
This, he said will be linked to opportunities in northern Ghana after the engagement with the key players in the agricultural sector in the savannah ecological zone and Ghana at large.
