Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), and Crop Research Institute (CRI), has engaged stakeholders in a 5-day training of trainers (TOT) workshop in Tamale, Ghana.

The ToT workshop, which was held from 2nd to 6th September 2024, strengthened the capacity of Ghanaian stakeholders and enterprises to adopt and scale proven agricultural technologies within the context of Innovation Platforms (IP).

Participants were equally trained on IP setting-up and operationalisation for downstream dissemination nationwide.

According to Dr Abdurazaq Ibrahim, the TAAT Compact Leader for Capacity Development and Technology Outreach led by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), innovation platforms are critical in promoting interactions among stakeholders to generate, test, and disseminate innovations that will provide solutions to constraints that hinder the performance of agricultural value chains.

“Innovation platforms, which serve as a space for learning, experience sharing, co-creation, business relationship building, problem-solving and decision-making, also facilitate the promotion of innovations, interactions, and collaboration among multiple actors such as agricultural producers, researchers, extensionists, and policymakers,” he added.

The workshop covered productivity-enhancing technologies and innovations from TAAT compacts for rice, vegetable, soybean and maize value chains led by the AfricaRice Centre, World Vegetable Centre, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) respectively.

The five-day workshop, which comprised presentations, discussions, teamwork, and role-playing based on practical cases, strengthened participants’ capacity to set up and manage innovation platforms for increased productivity and profitability and establish innovative partnerships, knowledge exchange, and scaling mechanisms within the rice, soybean, maize, and vegetable value chains.

The secretary to the Paramount Chief of Gukpegu (Tamale Traditional Council) and Kpalung Zobogu Naa, Mohamed Rashad Abdulai welcomed the initiative and declared the Traditional Council’s support for the IP model for deploying improved agricultural practices in Ghana