Untapped vegetable industry in Ghana ;A gold mine in coma
Last Wednesday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo opened the second Greenhouse Village at Akumadan in the Offinso North District in the Ashanti Region for the cultivation of vegetables.
Known as the Akumadan Greenhouse Capacity Building Centre and Commercial Units, the centre, which is one of three modules, covers a total of 13,500 square metres of which 4,500 square metres is put under cultivation of tomato, sweet-pepper and cucumber.
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The other two with similar facilities are located at Dawhenya and Bawjiase in the Greater Accra and Central regions, respectively. Each of the three centres runs a three-month training programme for 30 agricultural graduates at a go.
The development no doubt is good news for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which has over the past three years championed the need for food sufficiency through the Planting for Food and Jobs flagship programme.
Greenhouse villages
Indeed, the greenhouse village programme is one of the five modules under the Planting for Food and Jobs which focuses on ensuring sufficient vegetables production for both the local and foreign markets.
The Akumadan Greenhouse Village is the second to be established. A third one which has been completed awaiting official inauguration is at Bawjiase. All the three centres are being executed by an Israeli firm, Messrs Agritop Ltd, with the expertise in greenhouse construction at a total cost of $ 9.7 million.
Objectives
They are designed to equip the youth with knowledge, skills and the expertise in crop production through the use of modern systems and technology and also create jobs for the unemployed graduates.
The centres are also to facilitate the development of the complete value chain of vegetable producers, aggregators, seed suppliers, input dealers, transporters and produce distributors as well as to produce quality and fresh vegetables for urban dwellers in Kumasi, Accra and Tema and also for export throughout the year.
At the inaugural ceremony, President Akufo-Addo projected that the country could rake in about $1 billion from vegetable exports in seven years.
He said estimates indicated that cultivating three selected vegetables in the greenhouses could generate over GH¢2.49 million a year.
Opportunity for local producers
This is definitely good news for the local economy because it would shift the attention of the nation from importing vegetables to relying on the local vegetable producers.
Surely, the multiplying effect of this is unmeasurable.
The local vegetable producers will take over supplies to hotels, restaurants and supermarkets and that will mean more money in their pockets.
Additionally, food tourism will also receive a boost from the patronage of our local food produce and enhance businesses and incomes.
It is good to hear the President pledging the government’s willingness to continue to collaborate with development partners to ensure hands-on training to expand vegetable production in the country.
High earning sector
The vegetable industry is indeed a gold mine that is untapped. Thanks to the government for agreeing to develop the sector and getting the youth to develop interest in it.
If the three greenhouse villages at Dawhenya, Akumadan and Bawjiase can generate a total of GH¢2.49 million from the cultivation of only three crops, namely tomatoes, sweet pepper and cucumber, it stands to reason that if the greenhouses are replicated all over the country, then we are in good business.
The industry is a high earning one that the country is yet to explore. The East Africans are really benefiting from the vegetable industry and we have no excuse to relax because we have everything at our disposal, including the technological know-how, which AGRITOP is generously sharing with us.
At the inaugural ceremony at the Akumadan Greenhouse Village, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, invited the youth in the community to take advantage of the prepared 60-hectare greenhouse farm, five of which were being used at the centre.
That is an opportunity that the youth in the area must immediately seize in order to benefit from it. After all, the minister told them that they did not need to have prior knowledge in the greenhouse technology to start.
Knowledge transfer
About 50 agricultural graduates who had the opportunity to have a hands-on experience in the technology in Israel are back home and ready to make their expertise available for others to tap. Seventy of such graduates are currently in Israel and are expected to be returning towards the last quarter of the year to shore up the number of personnel with the know-how.
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These fortunate graduates must be seen as a trainer of trainers such that the Israeli knowledge they have acquired can be localised for the benefit of us all.
It is the wish of all Ghanaians that the relationship between the governments of Ghana and Israel towards this knowledge transfer will continue so that the numbers recruited yearly can increase to enable more Ghanaian youth benefit from the programme.