Ghana-Israeli Agrictech Summit opens in Accra

The maiden edition of an agribusiness, innovation and technology Summit (AGRICTECH 2019) dubbed; “Ghana Grows with Israel (GHrow-IL)” opened in Accra on Tuesday to usher about 18 Israeli companies into Ghanaian agricultural technology space.

The summit, which combines public lecture with agricultural technology fair focused on input technologies, modern agronomic practices and financing models in agribusiness.

The summit offers Ghana a unique opportunity to use the Israeli know-how, accumulated over thousands of years. As the companies participating in the summit are using both legs: “respect for tradition with a spirit of innovation” …with the notion, “work hard, and you shall be rewarded,” Mrs Shani Cooper, the State of Israeli Ambassador stated.

Narrating the Israeli breakthrough in Agricultural technology and innovation, Mrs Cooper noted that “Throughout years of work, they kept a guided principle: work hard in order to put food on your families’ table,” she said.

Mrs Cooper said the Jewish people returned to their homeland 3,000 years later to a political island without the ability to import food from its neighbours, “we had to come up with vital solutions for a self-supplying economy.

“In a 70 per cent desert-land, with not much rain and even fewer natural resources of water, we knew that, we had to flourish in the wilderness and provide our own food, depending on the same nature and climate that our ancestors did”.

The Israeli Ambassador noted that, back in exile, “our fathers and mothers did not work in Agriculture, they were merchants and dealers, they were Torah students and housewives.

“It is a true wonder realizing how much courageous they were, while they decided that they had to recreate themselves, to invest the new image of the modern Jew, who will be amongst others farmers”.

She said without any knowledge, the Israelis started to make their own agriculture; stressing that the lack of previous know-how was a challenge but also a point of strength.

“Not being strained to their fathers’ legacy they were able to innovate new methods of agriculture, without being chained to the old-world traditions, they were able to think outside of the box.

“Years passed by, the Israeli farmers and researchers had a good success, but they also understood that relying only on the new world was like walking on one leg, it is possible but less stable.

“Researches were done and slowly they combined the traditional agriculture into a new agriculture, invented the drip irrigation, the water desalination, the cherry tomatoes”.

Mrs Cooper said today, a century later, although Israel is still a desert, it has no water problem, water is being recycled, reused and desalinated in the highest percentage in the world.

She said Israel has become one of the most advanced countries in the world for precise agriculture and exports the majority of fruits and vegetables.

The Israeli Ambassador said the Israeli Development and Cooperation Agency (MAHSAV) has been training people from all around the world, including Ghana, in agriculture.

She said in 2018 alone more than 100 Ghanaians were trained in agriculture, in short- and long-term courses, “Israeli companies are spread around the world providing innovative solutions for specific challenges, while on the other hand, creating a whole project from scratch”.

The Agrictech 2019 is being organised by the Trade and Economic Mission of Israel in Ghana and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture with other local partners.