OCP Africa has organized a four-day training program for 200 agricultural expansion agents (AEAs) from MoFA and some collectors in the Bono East, Upper East, Upper West, North East, Ashanti, Oti and East areas.
The training is within the framework of the partnership agreement between OCP Africa and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), in September 2019 and as part of the agricultural program.
It was aimed at building capacity of the AEAs in line with OCP Africa’s 2020 Agribooster campaign.
The training provided participants with knowledge, tools and skills on farming dynamics, good agricultural practices (GAP), farming as a business (business skills), under-harvest operations and marketing of crops.
Mr Samuel Oduro, Country Manager of OCP Africa Ghana, said ‘apart from the provision of farm inputs in the agribooster program, we at OCP Africa believe that the success of the program depends in part on building the knowledge base of agricultural expansion agents, which knowledge gained to smallholder farmers. ‘
He added that women in an agricultural eastern program also support about 5,000 female smallholder farmers who cultivate maize and rice with 1,250 tons of improved fertilizer, soil preparation services and agricultural transformation equipment, with an expected yield of 5,000 tons.
Ashanti’s regional director at MoFA, Rev. John Manu, said: “The dynamics in the agricultural landscape and the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture make this training program very important for expansion agents and farmers in the country.”
“Our partnership with OCP Africa has been very fruitful and beneficial, and I believe that the agricultural industry, especially smallholder farmers, will be positively affected in the midst of COVID-19,” he added.
The Agribooster campaign in 2019 trained 87 extension officers, 400 main farmers and 42 605 smallholder farmers in good agricultural practices.