Reposition Ghana’s agric sector to attract the youth – Expert
An agriculturist has called for a sustained effort to reposition agriculture to make it more attractive to the youth.
Ms Irene Obeng, Chairperson of the Advisory Board of 4-H Ghana, made the call at a meeting of the 4-H Ghana Agriculture Youth Development Project in Koforidua.
4-H Ghana is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) committed to the promotion of youth development and making them contributors to the wellbeing of society.
She said 4-H Ghana provided high yielding seeds, fertilizers and farm tools to members of the club.
Ms Obeng, who was a former head of Asuansi Farm Institute, said the youth had lost interest in farming “which now seem to become a preserve for the aged.”
She said despite the rich vegetation of the country, Ghana continued to import large volumes of food items that could be grown locally and called for efforts to change that trend.
She announced that early next year, 4-H Ghana would launch the Green Agriculture Cadets in schools and communities aimed at repositioning agriculture to make it a more youth-friendly business.
Ms Obeng said her organisation would also collaborate with other organisations to set up a mechanization centre to train the youth on how to drive and repair tractors.
Mr Appiah Kweku Boateng, Executive Director of 4-H Ghana, said the club had established 161 school gardens and 44 community farms nationwide.
Mr Boateng said through the new maize planting protocol introduced by the NGO, maize farmers were able to increase their yield per acre from seven bags to 24.
He said a recent survey showed that majority of the students had opted to take farming as their future profession.
Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, Eastern Regional Minister, expressed her appreciation to the efforts of 4-H Ghana, to get more youth to be interested in farming.
The chairman of the function, Nana Otafrigya Osei, Chief of Tepa, said the major challenge facing third world countries was food insecurity and management of debt crisis and commended 4-H Ghana for its efforts to resolve the food insecurity.
Source: GNA