A prominent player in the agricultural sector, Agri-Impact, has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to tap into the university’s expertise and its E-Learning infrastructure.
This partnership aims to revolutionize the agricultural sector under the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) program.
Led by Agri-Impact and involving nine collaborators, the HAPPY initiative spans four years and aims to leverage technology and innovation to empower young individuals across the agricultural value chain. Supported by the MasterCard Foundation, its main goal is to create dignified job opportunities for 326,000 young people, with a special focus on empowering women and individuals with disabilities.
The program targets four primary value chains: rice, soya, poultry, and tomatoes. By leveraging industry expertise in each value chain, the initiative aims to enhance production, productivity, value addition, market access, enterprise development, and address policy issues related to youth participation in agriculture.
Over the project’s duration, the program aims to boost production in these value chains by 180,000 metric tonnes annually and generate US$200 million in revenue, while reducing imports by 10 percent.
During the event, Agri-Impact’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dan Aquaye, underscored the transformative potential of ICT in agriculture, emphasizing its role in providing real-time information and data for informed decision-making by farmers.
Agri-Impact’s Deputy Group CEO, Julie Asante-Dartey, highlighted that the initiative would equip farmers with the necessary knowledge and resources to effectively embrace ICT in agriculture, enhancing profitability and competitiveness within the value chain.
Professor Ben Banful, Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at KNUST, reiterated the university’s commitment to the program’s success, pledging to collaborate diligently with all stakeholders to ensure its triumph.