Pierre Brunache (R) wants young men and women to choose agribusiness as an activity[/caption] Countries in West Africa, including Ghana, have not made the best out of agribusiness due to the erroneous impressing that the supply chain starts with the farmer instead of the consumer, an agribusiness expert assessed. Most farmers in the sub-region have been planting crops without knowing what the market needs and therefore end up with waste produce, Pierre Brunache, Chief Agribusiness Officer at African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) analysed. In an interview with 3news.com in Accra, Brunache said the lack of knowing what comes first has made many farmers poor. “What comes first is the consumer; you don’t start farming without knowing what I want to eat, and that is where the problem lies, that is why our farmers are poor. What comes first is knowing whether the market wants sorghum, or soya, or cassava or tomatoes or cocoyam or maize; whether the market wants yellow maize or white, which quality, which standard, that is where you start. “When you know what the consumer wants to eat, when the consumer wants to eat it and how much the consumer wants to pay for it, how they want it packaged, then you farm it.” This, the Chief Agribusiness Officer at AFAP explained, among others has necessitated a two-day international conference to be held in Accra from July 10 to 12 this year at the Movenpick Hotel. The West Africa Fertilizer Agribusiness Conference is the second special collaboration between CRU Events and the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership . The aim is to hold a series of forums and discussions on how to realistically improve agriculture in West Africa.
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