She said one handicap of agricultural produce in Ghana was in the area of packaging and branding.

She noted that considering the amazing foodstuffs produced in the country, the less-than-satisfactory packaging and inability to brand the products suitably prevents us from realising the full potential of the sector.

Mrs Nyantekyi made these remarks at GrowS-Hort’s graduation ceremony in Accra on the theme: “Prospects in Ghana’s fruits and vegetables industry”.

The ceremony witnessed the graduation of 18 incubatees who participated in the GrowS-Hort’s Agribusiness Incubator Training Programme; the programme aims at training participants to take advantage of the enormous opportunities in the fruits and vegetables sector.

Mrs Nyantekyi, who was the guest speaker for the occasion therefore, urged the graduands to take advantage of all the avenues to market their business such as social media, instant messaging platforms, participating in trade shows and distribution of flyers.

She said agriculture as a whole had now become the very lifeline of economies around the world, particularly in Africa, including Ghana, with the ever -growing concern for food security, nutrition and poverty alleviation.

Mrs Nyantekyi stated that with the advent of government’s ‘Planting For Food and Jobs’ programme, the nation was more primed for innovative ventures for a holistic agricultural transformation as such interested persons must take advantage of  business avenues along the agricultural value chain.

“From pre-planting to post harvest, from agro-input supply to extension services, including various ancillary services that help to make produce from Ghana world certified," she added.

Mr Moses Baffour Awuah, Chief Executive Officer of GrowS-Hort’s ,said the plaque of unemployment was one of the world’s greatest setbacks and Africa, the second largest continent, was in a comfortable lead.

“While our lands and agriculture-friendly climates are being laid to waste and agribusiness is still perceived as a field for the marginalised," he added.

He said the agribusiness incubator training programme modules progressively enabled participants to develop their agribusiness ideas and empowered them to manage and run a successful vegetable and fruits enterprise.

Mr Baffour Awuah expressed gratitude to Africa Lead, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Feed the Future for their enormous support.

She tasked the graduands to use the skills and knowledge acquired at GrowS-Hort as tools to restore hope in our part of the world.

GrowS-Hort is a social enterprise that was created to transform African agriculture by employing contemporary and market competitive agricultural practices and to build and strengthen the capacity of the youth to undertake sustainable agribusiness ventures as a shore up to food security.