Collins Oppong holds a Bsc. Agribusiness from University of Ghana Legon. He’s currently an agricultural officer with the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. He served as a researcher for the ‘’KUAPA’’ project under the Scaling Seeds and Technology transfer Partnerships (SSTP) of the Alliance for a green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Collins Oppong assisted in the development of extension materials under the West African Seed Programme. He was a member of the communication team that developed technical leaflets, fliers and video documentaries for the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) among others.
His goal is to build the capacity of district and regional extension officers through technical trainings in seed related technologies as well as the provision of technical backstopping in the seed value chain. To complement these trainings, he intends to facilitate the use of mass extension methods e.g. farmer field schools, nucleus farmer out-growers, extension field days, demonstration of newly released varieties, mass communication through radio and television, communication vans and dissemination through farmer groups with the aim of enhancing seed demand levels for profitable seed industry investment. His passion is to establish demonstration plots to enhance farmers awareness about new and improved seed and technologies. These field demonstrations will provide an excellent educational tool to teach both agro-dealers and farmers about new varieties and the accompanying agronomic practices for foundation, certified seed and grain growers.
With his expertise he seeks to assist the various stakeholders in the seed value chain to modernize seed distribution systems, facilitate smallholder farmer access to improved seed varieties, improve seed production technologies, and strengthen links to credit and markets in a gender inclusive approach. This he believes will enable the transformation of West African agriculture from subsistence farming to profitable, self-sustaining and competitive commercial agriculture.