Joseph Oppong Akowuah was focused on both school and sport growing up. He is an accomplished educator, agricultural engineer, and footballer. He even had to choose between progressing in professional, club football or attending university. During our talk on Zoom, I got the impression that the choice between playing and studying was exceedingly difficult and one he might still debate today. He ultimately chose to attend Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and excelled as a student. That meant he eventually took up a teaching and research position at the institution. I have the feeling that Joseph’s dedication and success at capacity building through agricultural training was influenced by his time on the football pitch. His leadership and team building are evident by how many people he’s helped train in post-harvest management of grains and also by his thorough preparation and attention to detail that he’s brought to his work at KNUST and the Consortium.

Joseph is a licensed Engineer focused on the application of agricultural engineering that has a positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people working in the food supply chain. His research broadly focuses on postharvest management and handling of agricultural products mainly cereals and legumes. Specifically, his research focuses on investigating and developing simple, low cost drying and storage systems to mitigate post-harvest loss and food waste. The solar, biomass maize drying systems that Mr. Akowuah develops for smallholder farmers in rural areas in Ghana is an example of this dedication to practical, high impact agricultural engineering.

Joseph Akowuah’s passion for post-harvest technology stems from watching his mother’s petty trading business in agricultural produce. He witnessed the trials of working within a food value chain where agricultural items were bought and sold. More specifically, he saw how difficult it was for his mother and others to store or process nutritious foods before spoilage. The inability to store both durable and perishable foods influenced Joseph, a man who grew up far from farms and agricultural production in the city, to focus his studies and profession on agricultural engineering. This work often takes him to the rural areas of Ghana where his drying systems are deployed and where he trains individuals on post-harvest management practices. His research is shaped by the intention that it should have a real impact on communities in Ghana and throughout the world.

During our call, Joseph and I talked about the impact that COVID-19 has had on Ghana and the United States. Our talk revolved around how food flowed during different periods of the ongoing pandemic and the public health outcomes that seemed to be divergent in our two countries so far. True to form, Joseph had produced a blog on COVID impacts in Ghana. A piece that the Consortium will soon share.