350 Exhibitors For FAGRO 2011

A record number of 350 local and international exhibitors will showcase their latest agricultural technologies at the Food and Agric Show (FAGRO 2011).

The number represents a 70 per cent increase over the number of exhibitors who participated in last year's event held at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre in October.

This year's event is slated from 7-16 October 2011 at the Efua Sutherland Children's Park in Accra under the theme 'Beginning with the End in Mind - the Value Chain Process.'

According to the Head of Retail Banking of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and Chairman of the 2011 FAGRO Planning Committee, Adam Sulley, the exhibitors made up of farmers, food producers, traders, manufacturers, producers, policy makers, scientists, agriculturalists and other stakeholders, have been drawn from Ghana, China, Spain, USA, Burkina Faso, Israel and Brazil among others.

Mr. Sulley noted that the continuous increase in the number of exhibitors over the years is a manifestation of the trust and critical role the show was playing in spearheading the transformational process of the country's agricultural sector into a highly commercial state.

'The vast increase in the number of exhibitors for FAGRO 2011 emphasizes that the show has become an important event on the agricultural calendar of the country since it is a fair which has long being waited for by farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector,' he stressed.

He said FAGRO is currently the only fair which 'has in three years running provided a common platform for farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural industry to interact, share ideas, raise concerns and offer solutions to the myriads of problems facing the industry'.

The 2011 FAGRO Planning Committee Chairman revealed that this year's show will focus on strengthening the weak linkages in the value chain process in the sector.

'We believe that the time has come for us all to join heads and take pragmatic solutions to address these critical shortfalls if we need to transform the agricultural sector,' he added.

On the foreign exhibitors, Mr. Sulley said FAGRO is attracting more international exhibitors this year because of the huge investment potentials that the country's agricultural sector has to offer to the business community across the world.

He said although the show could not reach its target number of international exhibitors last year, the story is different this time around as 'our international exhibition partner, FBX is bringing in 50 exhibitors as against the five from China, Spain and Portugal last year.

'The image that we want to build for FAGRO in the medium to long term is to move our agricultural sector forward through the exchange of technical know how on modern agricultural technologies and investment and therefore all stakeholders must support this initiative in order to achieve this objective' he said.

Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, Exhibition Director of FAGRO also noted that 'this has never happened in Ghana before, even though there are various farmer and agricultural organizations in the country, they have never been brought together under one umbrella to showcase products and services as well as learn new and innovative ways of farming and doing business.'

She stated that the fair is significant because it is the only avenue through which farmers, producers and manufacturers of agricultural products and services in the country can learn about new farming technologies to increase their productivity levels.

Ms Akosa said as a national event FAGRO will not only attract international exhibitors but compete and partner with international agricultural shows such as the Royal Show in the United Kingdom and the Bahrain International Agricultural Show.

FAGRO is an annual show, which seeks to provide a platform for farmers and participants to learn modern techniques of agricultural marketing, appropriate and modern use of farming technology and farm business management such as laws and policies, accessing land, water, effective production services, resource management and conversation practices.

Activities lined up for this year's show include food competitions, World Food Day celebration, intensive seminar and field demonstrations, counseling on health related issues, among others.