The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cluster Farming Holding Limited (CFH), a commercial company which focuses on agriculture, aquaculture, sales, food and supply chain management. The purpose of the MoU is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship which will stimulate cooperation and strengthen research, teaching and outreach to promote development, broaden experiences and promote sharing of knowledge and understanding amongst staff and students of UCC and workers and management of CFH. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, signed for UCC, whilst the Managing Director of CFH, Mr. Gerrit Valkenburg, initialed for CFH. The MoU shall among others allow students of the School of Agriculture to do attachments at CFH for the purpose of practical training and collection of data for their projects. The MoU permits the students to visit the CFH Farms during field trips and also facilitates UCC staff and students to collect data from the Farm for research purposes. CFH will supply day-old chicks and cat fish fingerlings to UCC for research, teaching and commercial production purposes and, CFH will also facilitate collaboration and cooperation between the School of Agriculture and colleges/faculties in the Netherlands. On its part, UCC will help CFH to give talks on emerging issues in their livestock and fishery industry and also assist CFH in its breeding and management programmes. In an address, Prof. Ampiah said the signing of the MoU was a clear demonstration of the commitment of both the School of Agriculture and CFH to partner and to discharge their responsibilities professionally. “…this is the responsibilities you have taken upon yourselves, but I believe that you will be able to do it. Please make sure you don’t fail us. If you fail us, you have failed the whole University,” he said. Prof. Ampiah advised the two partners to eschew lackadaisical attitude towards the objectives of the MoU. For his part, Mr. Valkenburg thanked the University management for giving CFH the opportunity to partner the School of Agriculture. He assured the Vice-Chancellor that the CFH would abide by the provisions in the MoU. Present at the signing ceremony were the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro; Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and the Dean School of Agriculture Prof. Elvis Asare Bediako. Others were the Head, Department of Agriculture Economics & Extension; Prof. Festus Annor-Frimpong; Head, Department of Animal Science, Head, Department of Soil Science, Prof. B. A. Osei; Dr. Julius Hagan; Head, Department of Crop Science, Dr. (Mrs.) Grace C. van der Puije and Coordinator, Technology Village, Dr. Kwame Agyei Frimpong
