Agripreneur and host of the Ghanaian Farmer TV, Enyonam Manye, has admonished Ghanaians to rate value addition in agriculture high.
According to him, doing so will help eradicate poverty in the country.
Explaining the basic understanding of value addition in agriculture, she mentioned that, it’s when crops are harvested and transformed to the next stage and made easily consumable for everyone.
“Basically it is packaging it well and presenting it or selling it at a higher price than it being in its raw state,” she furthered.
Speaking to Eunice Tornyi on e.tv Ghana’s ‘African Women’s Voices’ show, she said, “This plays a very important role in the development of agriculture and also the living standard and condition of farmers in the global economy. It also places premium on value addition and over the years, farmers have sold crops in its raw state and made peanuts for the sweat and all the efforts they put into getting the crops to us. They’ve gone past that level and now pay attention to value addition because they have realized it can be very sustainable if they have the means.”
Citing an encounter with a Rwandan farmer, she stated that she has added value to herself and her country by producing cookies and oil made from a pumpkin fruit and has now created employment in the process.
“She started in a small factory and has now employed about 15 people to assist her. To think that she’s a young woman who just completed agricultural school, she’s now making her money and also created jobs in their country and also going global,” she emphasized.
She believes that if value addition is taken seriously and considered “we will actually be able to elevate poverty in our rural communities especially.”
By: Gyamfuah Owusu-Ackom
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