SPEECH: ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PETER BOAMAH OTOKUNOR, DIRECTOR, PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE IN AGRICULTURE AND AGRIBUSINESS, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AT THE ELIGREEN WOMEN AND YOUTH AGRIBUSINESS EXHIBITION SUMMIT (EWAYES 25)

THEME: “BREAKING BARRIERS: SECURING MARKET ACCESS

FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH IN THE AGRIBUSINESS SECTOR” 

MONDAY, 13TH OCTOBER, 2025| 10:00AM

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, cherished women and youth agripreneurs, partners in development, friends from the media, good morning.

It is a great honor to join you all this morning at this remarkable gathering the EliGreen Women and Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit (EWAYES 25).

This summit is more than an event. It is a movement a movement that celebrates courage, innovation, and the unstoppable determination of women and young people who are changing the face of agriculture across our country. Allow me, at the very beginning, to specially acknowledge Founder of EliGreen Agribusiness Hub, the Honorable Sophia Karen Edem Ackuaku, for her resilience, vision, and unwavering commitment to women and youth in agribusiness. Hon. Ackuaku, you have not only dreamt of a space like this you have built it, nurtured it, and sustained it through your sheer passion for empowering others. Your story represents what Ghana needs bold individuals who see beyond the challenges and create platforms for others to rise.

Let me also, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, bring warm greetings from His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, whose leadership continues to inspire the inclusion of women and youth in Ghana’s agricultural development agenda. President Mahama strongly believes that when women and youth succeed in agriculture, Ghana succeeds. He has often emphasized that the transformation of our economy will be led by the small gains every Ghanaian is making in their own way and so we commend — people like Hon. Sophia Ackuaku and the many women and youth here today who are taking bold steps in agribusiness, manufacturing, and trade.

The theme for this summit “Breaking Barriers: Securing Market and Financial Access for Women and Youth in the Agribusiness Sector” captures one of the most important conversations of our time.

Across Ghana, women and youth form the backbone of agriculture. They till the soil, process the food, and trade the produce that feeds our nation. Yet, they remain at the margins of opportunity. Many are full of ideas but lack the capital to grow. Others produce diligently but struggle to find markets. And too many still face cultural and institutional barriers that limit their access to land, credit, and training. These barriers must be broken not with words, but with systems that empower. Under the leadership of H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the government has taken deliberate steps to build an agricultural economy that works for all especially women and youth.

Through the Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture and Agribusiness (PIAA), we are implementing focused programmes designed to improve access to finance, markets, knowledge, and opportunity. At the heart of these interventions is one of our flagship programmes the Dobidi Agro-Input Credit and Farmer Financing Platform (DACFIP), an arm of our flagship Dobidi Initiative and integrated outgrower programme started this year to provide input support to smallholder farmers across the country. This year we targeted 10,000 acres of rice and 50,000 acres of maize input support to smallholder farmers.

The Dobidi Agro-Input Credit and Farmer Financing Platform (DACFIP)

“Dobidi” meaning Grow and eat some reflects our conviction that progress in agriculture must be collective, inclusive, and shared.

The Dobidi Agro-Input Credit and Farmer Financing Platform (DACFIP) is a revolutionary digital system designed to connect farmers to agro-input credit, affordable farmer financing, technical support, aggregators, off-takers, and financial institutions.

The goal is to remove the structural barriers that have long kept smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth, from accessing essential financing and inputs.

Through DACFIP, farmers can access fertilizers, seeds, mechanization services, and other inputs on credit repaid after harvest. The platform uses data and traceability to link farmers’ performance to financial credibility, giving banks and lenders the confidence to extend support.

It is a transparent, efficient, and inclusive financing ecosystem that not only supports productivity but ensures accountability and growth.

This project is already in motion and will form a major pillar in Ghana’s agricultural transformation drive. Its promise is simple but profound: to ensure that no farmer is left behind because of lack of access to finance.

But financial access and input support programmes alone cannot sustain the transformation. PIAA is complementing other government Agro initiatives with several other initiatives.

The School Farm Initiative is transforming Senior High/Technical Schools into centers of agricultural learning and production cultivating over 15,000 acres across more than 1000 schools and nurturing a generation that sees agriculture as a business, not a burden. On Tuesday 21^st October, 2025 HE John Dramani Mahama will Officially launch the School Farm Programme at Kpedze Senior High School in the Ho West District of the Volta Region.

The Youth Agriculture Estate Programme aims at providing structured enclave driven agro production through commercial farming, irrigation, and market access for young graduates turning idle lands into productive, youth-led agribusiness hubs.

And the Poultry and Livestock Training Initiative targets at equipping 20,000 young people and smallholder farmers with hands-on skills in modern animal production creating jobs, building capacity, and strengthening our food systems. All these programmes are designed around one principle inclusion. We are building an agriculture sector that gives every Ghanaian, regardless of gender or background, a chance to participate and prosper. In today’s economy, access to markets is just as critical as access to credit.
That is why we are building systems that connect small producers directly to buyers and processors through aggregation centers, digital trading platforms, and commodity networks.

Through exhibitions like EWAYES 25, Eligreen is helping women and youth entrepreneurs find visibility and connect with opportunities beyond their immediate reach. These platforms are not symbolic; they are strategic they open doors to trade, investment, and partnerships.

But beyond all the policies, we must never forget the human faces behind them the woman in Savelugu who processes groundnuts into paste for export, the youth group in Agona cultivating rice for school feeding programmes, the young graduate in Ho who built a business selling organic fertilizer from waste. These are the people who remind us why we serve. They are the reason policies must translate into action and action must lead to impact.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of agriculture cannot be built by government alone. We need partnerships strong, purposeful partnerships.

To our banks and financial institutions: I urge you to see agriculture not as high-risk, but as high-potential. The farmers you hesitate to finance today are the producers who will feed your cities tomorrow.

To our development partners and private investors: I invite you to join us on the Dobidi Platform. Let us work together to build a financing ecosystem that empowers women and youth at the grassroots.

To our entrepreneurs, innovators, and agribusiness leaders: open your supply chains. Let women and youth be part of your success story.

And to the women and young people here today this is your time. Do not wait for opportunity; create it. You are not just the future of agriculture you are its heartbeat.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as we look to the future, let us remember that breaking barriers is not merely about dismantling obstacles it is about building bridges of inclusion, innovation, and dignity. With the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, with the hard work of visionaries like Hon. Sophia Ackuaku, and with the passion of every woman and young agripreneur gathered here today, I am confident that the future of agriculture in Ghana is bright, inclusive, and unstoppable. It is therefore with immense pride and optimism that, on behalf of H.E John Dramani Mahama and the Eligreen Agribusiness Hub, I declare the EliGreen Women and Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit  EWAYES 25 officially opened!

May this summit inspire new ideas, forge lasting partnerships, and mark a turning point in the story of women and youth in agribusiness in Ghana.

May God bless our farmers, our women, our youth, and our beloved nation, Ghana, Thank you