Accra, Nov. 29, GNA – More funding is needed by innovators and research institutions to popularise climate smart technologies among smallholder farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Already, proven technologies including drought tolerant variety seeds that can help address long-dry-spell have been developed, registered and released, however, the challenge is the inadequate finance to promote and build businesses to create employment.
Training packages on how smallholder farmers can achieve maximum yields of staples like maize and rice have also been designed.
Professor Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, the Director of West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the opening of a week training program on basic concepts and principles of the entrepreneurial process for 30 post graduate students.
The training programme is jointly run by the Kofi Annan Enterprise Hub for Agricultural Innovation, WACCI, Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, and the Dutch Centres for Entrepreneurship with funding from Nuffic.
Participants would gain knowledge and skills in generating ideas to solve challenges of society in the agricultural sector, establish businesses with innovations developed, raise and manage capital to support accelerated growth in their businesses.
Professor Danquah stated the module of the training would be reviewed and inculcated into the curriculum of the post graduate students in WACCI, Agribusiness, Business School to mentor innovators.
He said that WACCI through its novel initiatives would continue to train the youth on how to build business from their research studies to become game-changers in the West African sub-region.
Professor Danquah said entrepreneurship was important for economic development and that agricultural transformation in Ghana and the Subregion.
Madam Jip Dresia, the Head of International Programmes, Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, said as part of the training, the faculty would provide guidance to the student’s ideas generated, help them to build partnerships.
“This is critical for business development. One can set up a business, but practically that business can only go through building partnerships with others individuals and firms,” she said.
Over the five days of the training, the 30 participants would go through 12 sections under thematic topics, including economic systems, entrepreneural mindset, attracting and maintaining customers and operations and general management, financing, Organisational structure and development and strategic management.
GNA