The stakeholders shared the views on Tuesday during the opening of the Ghana AgroTech Fair 2026 being held at the Black Star Square in Accra, a maiden programme organised by the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, in collaboration with the Ghana Export-Import Bank,

The three-day event (March 17 – 19), held on the theme: “Transforming Agribusiness through Local Innovation and Technology,” showcases locally developed agricultural machinery, agro-processing equipment, and emerging technologies aimed at boosting productivity and strengthening value addition in the sector.
President John Dramani Mahama; Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, and Mr Sylvester A. Mensah, Chief Executive, Ghana EXIM Bank, opened the fair.

Madam Faustina Okai, Principal of Bedeku Technical Institute, said practical training and innovation in schools could play a key role in inspiring young people to pursue careers in agriculture.

She said students of the institute had designed and built a milling machine locally to process sorghum leaves cultivated on the school’s farm.
Madam Okai said the machine enabled the students to process the sorghum leaves into tea bags and powder for cooking, demonstrating how technology and skills training could support agro-processing and value addition.

“With the machine produced by the students, we process the sorghum leaves from our farm and package them into tea bags. The same leaves can also be processed into powder for cooking foods such as waakye.”

Madam Okai explained that the sorghum leaf tea had health benefits and could be consumed as a natural beverage.
She noted that the innovation had already attracted interest from visitors at the exhibition but the school lacked adequate facilities to scale up production.
“We have just started producing the product and the response has been encouraging, but we need support to expand. We do not have enough machines or a proper workshop to produce on a large scale,” she said.

The Principal appealed to the government and private partners to support the institute with well-equipped workshops and infrastructure to enable students to expand production.

Such innovations could help promote Made-in-Ghana products and even open opportunities for export, Madam Okai said.
“In Ghana Month, it is important that we promote what we produce locally. We should wear Ghana, eat Ghana and drink Ghana,” she added.
Mr Harry Bernard Wryter,, Managing Director of Hydroponics and Agri-Tech Group of Companies, also underscored the importance of technological innovations in modern agriculture.

He said technologies such as hydroponics and aquaponics were helping to modernise farming and attract young people into the sector.
Hydroponics is a method of growing crops without soil, while aquaponics combines fish farming with crop cultivation in a system that recycles water and nutrients.
Mr Wright explained that the system enabled farmers to produce high yields in small spaces, making it suitable for urban and backyard farming.
“With a small box like this, you can harvest about 40 kilogrammes of tomatoes within three months, and you can produce about nine kilogrammes of spinach every month,” he said.

He noted that such technologies could help address challenges such as limited land availability while making agriculture more efficient.
Mr Wright said his company was also converting agricultural waste such as rice husk into biochar and organic fertiliser, which helped to improve soil health and crop yields.

The organic fertiliser improved soil structure while feeding crops, unlike inorganic fertilisers, which mainly fed plants but degraded the soil over time.
He said the technology was also being explored as a potential solution for reclaiming lands degraded by illegal mining activities.
“With biochar, we can reclaim degraded lands faster and make them suitable for planting within about a year,” he said.
Mr Wright called for greater collaboration between the government and the private sector to scale up agricultural innovations and training programmes for farmers and young people.

He said the company had been running training programmes and internships for students from universities including the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the University of Cape Coast to equip them with practical skills in modern farming technologies.
Mr Wright said technology-driven agriculture required less physical labour and could be practiced even in small spaces, making it attractive to young people.
Stakeholders at the fair expressed optimism that sustained investment in agricultural technology, research and skills development would help attract more youth into the sector and strengthen Ghana’s agricultural transformation.80