From a day’s exhibition, the National Farmers Day Food and Agricultural Trade Fair has grown into a five-day event held to climax the annual National Farmers Day celebration, which recognises and awards our hardworking farmers.
Since taking the shape of a week-long celebration for the past nine years, the exhibition, which was then organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, has now been taken over by the Agrihouse Foundation, working with the ministry.
Regional focus
Each day of the week-long activities features three or four regions under a programme dubbed “Regional Focus”, which allows them to showcase their flagship products, producers and processors, as well as their culture and investment opportunities.
The regional focus has become an avenue for people to savour the indigenous food of the various regions and educate them about the culture of each region, thus promoting unity in diversity.
Alongside the regional focus, the event features agricultural departments at institutions such as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Ghana, as well as agricultural colleges, showcasing innovations aimed at supporting food system transformation. Ghana-focused.
2026 Edition
For the 2026 edition scheduled to take place in Techiman, the Bono Regional capital, over 150 agricultural value-chain operators have so far registered to showcase innovations, technology, modern farming techniques and an array of the latest farming machinery.
The fair will start from Monday, November 30 to Friday, December 4, which will climax the week-long festivities to crown the National Best Farmers and Fisherfolks.
The event will be celebrated on the general theme, “Our farmers, Our food, Our future,” focusing on strengthening local food production, safeguarding national food security, building resilient agricultural value chains, and securing long-term economic development.
Attendees
Notable attendees include farmer associations, input dealers, including crop-nutrition and crop-protection businesses, seed, irrigation, machinery, and equipment companies, as well as agricultural insurers, banks, and other financial institutions.
Others include research institutions, government agencies, standards authorities, service providers, and marketers, thus bringing together a wide range of agricultural value-chain participants, including development organisations supporting young people and agricultural careers.
New dimension
Speaking on the exhibition, the Founder of Agrihouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, said this year’s event had introduced a new dimension aimed at attracting agribusiness participants from neighbouring countries to facilitate business matchmaking and create new opportunities.
“The programme gives greater attention than before to sectors often overshadowed by crop production, such as livestock, poultry, and fisheries, which were expected to be strongly represented, alongside the ‘blue economy.’
“A large farmers’ market will provide a place for farmers to sell their produce, with youth-led innovation and value addition,” she added.
Ms Akosa said a major addition too was the expanded role of young people in innovation sessions which will be held every day of the five-day event.
She said the event would afford young women and men the opportunity to present practical work that could improve production, reduce waste, and create new agricultural businesses.
Ms Akosa cited examples of such new agricultural businesses as turning discarded cocoa husks into vinegar and other products such as cocoa cream, processing cassava into ethanol and cashew into alcoholic beverages.
Other value-added activities include the conversion of agricultural scraps into small machines and equipment, including planters and harvesters, as well as developing services and businesses in agricultural inputs and organic-waste processing.
“These projects demonstrate value addition: transforming raw materials or waste into useful, potentially profitable products rather than relying only on unprocessed commodities.
“The underlying principle is that nothing should go to waste. Greater specialisation among young people, rather than trying to work across every part of agriculture, can encourage expertise and creativity across different value chains,” Ms Akosa added.
Week-long activities
She said machinery and input businesses were among the most frequent exhibitors, but in addition to displaying equipment, machinery companies would conduct practical demonstrations and trials, including instruction on how to handle machinery.
“Development agencies will also present their work building young people’s skills and careers in agriculture,” Ms Akosa said the organisers were hopeful that the government would help young innovators to move beyond presenting ideas at the fair by supporting them to establish lasting roles in the agricultural sector.
On public-private partnership (PPP), she said the Ministry’s continued partnership with the Agrihouse Foundation for the organisation of the National Farmers Day Food and
Agricultural Trade Fair was evidence that PPPs could work and that youth-led organisations could successfully contribute to public programmes when given the responsibility and technical support.
Dwindling support
Touching on donations towards the celebration by Corporate Ghana, Mrs Akosa said transparent distribution of donations was essential for rebuilding donor confidence and sustaining support for farmers. Ghana-focused
The Coordinator of the National Farmers’ Day Celebrations, Philip Osei Nkrumah, admitted that in recent years, Corporate Ghana’s support had been dwindling.
He said so far, a few companies and institutions had donated towards the celebration, “but this is the whole country we are talking about, so indeed we need help, and we also need the support of the media to appeal to Corporate Ghana to come to the aid of our farmers.”
