American university to promote Central Region economically
The Central Regional House of Chiefs on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), USA, to promote the region economically.
The MOU seeks to enhance the socio-economic development of the region through agriculture, public-private partnerships, human resource development through training and technical assistance of mutual interest to both institutions.
Other areas that would be given priority attention are the promotion of development initiatives to address poverty reduction and ensure income generation, youth and women empowerment as well as access to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the growth of the region.
Daasebre Kweebu Ewusie VII, President of the Central Regional House Chiefs, signed on behalf of the House and Professor Emmanuel Acquah, Director of International Programmes of the UMES, signed for the university at a brief ceremony witnessed by the Central Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong.
Prof. Acquah, who is also Professor of Agricultural Economics at the UMES, said a research by UMES and University of Cape Coast revealed that the poverty level in the region could be reduced using agriculture.
It was towards that direction that the university had sought the assistance of the paramount chiefs to provide land for vegetable farming to engage the teeming unemployed youth to be economically independent, he said.
This, Prof. Acquah said, would help reduce poverty in the region whilst the UMES would also benefit by sending some of its experts to interchange ideas on Ghana’s vegetable farming and study how it was done.
He said citrus and animal husbandry would be explored later.
Daasebre Kweebu Ewusie said all the paramouncies of the House had agreed to allocate land for the farming project to engage the youth in agriculture to make poverty a thing of the past.
He urged the media to give it the necessary publicity to help attract and sustain the interest of the youth in the project.
The Regional Minister said the MOU was important considering the poverty level in the region adding that the Regional Coordinating Council would do its best to ensure its success.
Source: GNA