A&T Representatives Consult on African Economic Development



January 10, 1996

Greensboro, NC: Drs. Earnestine Psalmonds and William Amponsah of North Carolina A&T State University recently participated in the Conference on Commercialization and Transfer of Agricultural Technology in Africa, in Accra, Ghana.

"Since the mid-1980s, more than 30 African countries have experienced vast economic reforms," said Amponsah, interim coordinator of NC A&T's International Trade Center of Excellence. "This conference brought together representatives from those countries to discuss the progress and effects of reform."

At the conference, Amponsah presented a paper, "Creating an Enabling Environment for Agricultural Technology Transfer and Commercialization: A Comparative African Study."

Amponsah and Psalmonds, vice-chancellor for research at NC A&T, also served as moderators and facilitators for the conference's strategic planning sessions.

Also while in Ghana, Psalmonds and Amponsah met with the Minister and other officials from the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture to discuss possible international trade agreements involving NC A&T's International Trade Center of Excellence, with the Director and staff of the United States Agency for International Development-Ghana to discuss economic development initiatives, and with administration from the University of Ghana to discuss possible linkages between the two educational institutions.

The conference was jointly sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, and the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

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For more information, please contact Dr. William Amponsah of the NC A&T School of Agriculture, (336) 334-7056.