The Technical Education Development to Modernise Agriculture in Ghana (TEDMAG) has commenced a Project which is aimed at training Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) and value chain actors across the country.
The training workshops—which are to take place from August 18 to 24 in eight (8) regions in the country namely Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani, Wa, Bolgatanga, Ho, Tamale and Cape Coast—will focus on building the capacity of FBOs and other actors of the value chain in the area of organisational and value chain development, and how to position themselves to take advantage of the quest to modernise.
At the opening ceremony held in Accra to begin the first phase of the 3-tier training using the Trainer of Trainers approach, 160 selected participants from 160 Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) and value chain actors across the country are expected to be trained in area such as Value chain and markets, Agricultural Marketing, Skills for managing relationships, Business planning for the FBO.
Mr. Derrick Owusu-Ansah, the Project Manager – TEDMAG speaking on behalf of the TEDMAG Consortium (Universities of Saskatchewan and Missouri, and UMAP Ghana –INGO), said the consortium is working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to provide technical support for participants to train their respective FBOs and value chain actor groups members in the 16 regions of Ghana.
He added that the third phase of the training would see all agricultural extension agents across the country being trained to provide the necessary technical backstopping to FBOs and value chain actors at the national, regional and district levels across Ghana.
The TEDMAG Project is funded by Global Affairs Canada under the Modernising Agriculture in Ghana programme with the objective of building the capacities of Ghana’s agricultural extension agents to support the government’s agenda of modernising and commercialising agriculture.
The project has successfully trained more than 140 tutors from the five agricultural colleges in Ghana and over 6,500 agricultural extension agents countrywide. The project’s aim is to reorient extension delivery services in Ghana to respond to the needs of various stakeholders and international standards.
Story by: Nathaniel Nartey.