Eni inaugurate business and agric training center

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Ghana’s Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi, last week, together witnessed the inauguration of the Okuafo Pa Agricultural Training Center sited in the Dormaa East District, Bono region,

The center is a pilot initiative of the Africa Project which aims to support economic diversification in the agricultural sector through skill transfer and business support, in particular by means of self-sustaining agricultural consortia.

Eni and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, in its capacity of financial institution for international cooperation for development, also signed a Cooperation Agreement for the definition of sustainable development initiatives in the agri-business sector. The agreement also provides for a joint definition of mechanisms to facilitate access to credit in favour of the local communities and to use available international funds to promote sustainable development initiatives.

"Professional training and skill acquisition is a precondition for social and economic development. Eni intends to play an active role in defining virtuous paths for sustainable growth in the countries in which it operates, and this project is a concrete example of what we can do if we pool our resources and those of our partners,” said Claudio Descalzi.

The Okuafo Pa campus extends over an area of 40 hectares and includes experimental laboratories and farming areas; it will provide theoretical and practical vocational training to 800 students per year in the agricultural, agri-food and zootechnical fields. The training courses are developed in collaboration with local universities, and trainees can focus either on farming courses or agri-business courses.

The project, developed by Eni in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, is now enhanced by the collaboration with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti which will ensure the identification of the most appropriate mechanisms to access credit, as well as Coldiretti and  Bonifiche Ferraresi, which will guarantee support in the start-up of agricultural activities.

This initiative is aimed at achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG 1: no poverty; SDG 4 quality education; SDG 5: gender equality; SDG 6: clean water and sanitation; SDG 8: decent work and economic growth; SDG 12: responsible consumption and production; SDG 17: private public partnerships.