On March 17-19th 2026, one of the winning team's of UNU-INRA's INFoCAT project: Wobil Technologies participated in Ghana's maiden Agritech fair. On March 17th, Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama visited the Wobil Technologies stand where the team spoke about their rice threshers, how they operate and importance to smallholders in Ghana.
This fair was organised by Ghana's Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry and Ghana Exim Bank as an effort to support and promote agritech innovators in Ghana. The theme for the fair was "Transforming Agribusiness Through Local Innovation and Technology."
After piloting context-appropriate clean technologies, to enhance agricultural productivity, expand access to clean energy(solar powered), and reduce drudgery in farming and agro-processing, 6 INFoCAT young innovators(teams) have been awarded a sum amounting $37,000 per country- to scale up their innovations.
Now, what remains is UNU-INRA, its operating unit in Côte D'Ivoire and Enda Energie (INFoCAT partners), continuing to foster linkages with the marketplace and help promote these young agritech innovators(teams) to investors and other key market stakeholders.
Some key objectives under the INFoCAT project include :
Supporting the development of affordable, labour-saving clean energy agriculture technology solutions to save time, reduce drudgery and enhance women’s and youth economic opportunities and well-being in a way that reduces gender imbalances in clean energy agriculture tech-nology innovation.
Supporting clean energy agriculture technology start-ups with a focus on women-led compa-nies where possible, to refine and expand their product offering to meet the needs of small-holder rural farmers through market intelligence. This will be done in a way that reduces gender imbalances in clean energy agriculture technology use and access to clean energy in agriculture.
- Informing gender sensitive policy reforms that, recognize the contribution of clean energy agriculture technology start-ups to the energy transition and provide the necessary incentives for them to thrive and grow.
Promotion of newly adapted agriculture technologies to the Ghanaian and African market.
Innovate for Agricultural Technologies (INFoCAT), is aimed at advancing women and youth economic empowerment through the promotion of low-cost clean energy powered tech solutions in Agriculture. It aims to support the development of clean energy agricultural technologies that are affordable, timesaving and labour-saving.
INFoCAT is sponsored by International Development Research Center(IDRC), Canada. The project is being implemented in 3 countries: Ghana, Senegal(Partner: Enda Energie) and Côte d’Ivoire(Partner: UNU-INRA Operating Unit).
