A group that consisted of members of the Ghana Parliamentary select committee on agriculture and cocoa affairs, young policy analysts from the policy planning and monitoring and evaluation division at MoFA, young technical staff from MoFA, farmers, agribusiness persons, and scientists were recently taken to India for a study tour. See the list of participants here.
The objective of the study tour was to offer learning opportunities for generating alternatives to key policy issues that the Government of Ghana is grappling with. The team met with parliamentarians, scientists (including the head of Indian Council of Agricultural research), and policy analysts. They also visited research institutions and interacted with private companies engaged in seed production, value chain development, fertilizer granulation, tissue culture and the manufacture of organic fertilizers. The detailed program can be found here.
ICAR and a few of the private sector firms visited are very interested in developing a joint program with the support of the India-Africa fund, which is now available to foster collaboration. Many of the participants have proposals for future interaction. We are organizing a forum on October 4th to give them an opportunity to share their experiences and discuss their proposals.