India and Ghana have strengthened agricultural cooperation through a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana's Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI). The MoU establishes a framework for joint agricultural research, scientific exchange, capacity building, and commercialization of agricultural technologies, with Arima Farms Ltd recognized as the commercial partner for specific research and commercialization activities.
The initial phase will focus on vegetable crop research, particularly tomato research and development, where ICAR will support scaling up proven technologies and introducing suitable high-yielding tomato lines and varieties to strengthen Ghana's domestic tomato production. The partnership will also emphasize processing and value addition of cassava, yam and other tuber crops to strengthen agricultural value chains.
Cooperation extends to post-harvest management, including technical support and capacity building in cold storage, refrigerated transportation, sorting, grading and processing technologies aimed at addressing post-harvest losses. The agreement provides for exchange of scientists, technologists, germplasm, breeding materials, scientific information, methodologies, and technical knowledge, alongside development and implementation of collaborative research projects.
A Joint Working Group comprising representatives of ICAR and CSIR-CRI will oversee the collaboration, reviewing progress and guiding implementation through periodic meetings in New Delhi and Accra. The partnership aims to strengthen linkages between agricultural research, technology development, capacity building and commercial application, facilitating adoption of relevant technologies and contributing to sustainable agricultural development in Ghana. The signing ceremony was attended by Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India, and H.E. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ghana.