500 Agric entrepreneurs receive GH¢10m support
Five hundred entrepreneurs selected from the agricultural sector across the country have received a total amount of GH¢10 million to support their businesses.
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The package, which ranged between GH¢10,000 and GH¢100,000 depending on the capacity of the project of the recipient, was disbursed by the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) under the Youth In Innovative Agriculture (YIIA) support under the Ghana CARES Obaatan Pa programme.
At a ceremony in Accra last Thursday to disburse the amount to some beneficiaries representing the group, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEIP, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, said government through the CARES programme, was providing the funds to beneficiaries not only to nurture crops or livestock, but also to help nurture their dreams of becoming successful agric entrepreneurs.
“So, as we prepare to disburse the grants and present beneficiaries with these symbolic cheques, I urge you to remember that this is not just financial support, but a vote of confidence in your ability to bring about change.”
“It is a belief in your potential to transform challenges into opportunities to bridge gaps and to inspire future generations to take up agribusiness as their preferred jobs,” Mr Nkansah told the beneficiaries.
Use
Mr Nkansah said the needs of beneficiaries for which the funds were being provided included but not limited to purchasing of farm inputs such as fertilisers, agro chemicals, poultry feed, livestock feed, day old chicks and working capital for other operational expenditure.
He also mentioned the percentage distribution of beneficiaries trained according to the various training modules as maize farming, 30 per cent, tubers (cassava and yam) 20 per cent, poultry and livestock 35 per cent, agro-processing 10 per cent, agri-tech, three per cent and others, two per cent.
Background
The YIIA, is an agriculture project under the Ghana CARES Obaatan Pa programme through the NEIP with the objective of supporting young people who undertake farming as a commercial venture.
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The modules covered under the programme include vegetable farming, maize farming, poultry and livestock, yam and cassava (for tubers), aquaculture, agro-processing and agric-tech, while some of the crops cultivated under the YIIA include maize, sorghum, soybean, tomato and onion.
The project supports beneficiaries with training and funding with continuous coaching and mentoring services.
In all, 24,000 applicants out of the 40,000 application received were selected and trained in 40 training centres across the 16 regions of the country.
This disbursement was the second phase of the project.
Training
In a speech read on her behalf, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Finance, Eva Mends, said over 45, 000 Ghanaians had been supported and offered entrepreneurial support training as at the close of June this year.
Those, she mentioned, included 26, 000 youth under the YouStart programme, 8,865 people under the National Unemployment Insurance Scheme, 5, 000 people trained under the Training and Entrepreneurs in Partnership with YEA, 1,260 people under the Entrepreneurs for Restoration Programme for Prison Inmates and 3,900 people under the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project.
Ms Mends commended the NEIP for working hard to create the congenial space for youth entrepreneurship.
She said the overwhelming number of application received from applicants under the YIIA programme was a testament to the zeal of the youth for agriculture.
Under the Ghana CARES programme, Ms Mends said, the Finance Ministry was partnering the NEIP to further deepen its work to build up more young people especially in the area of agriculture.
She said the grants symbolised the confidence the government had in young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and an investment in their potential to contribute to the growth of agriculture in the creation of jobs and the development of the country.
Ms Mends further urged all beneficiaries to embrace the opportunities the programme brought and harness their potential in entrepreneurship and agriculture.
She also advised them to use the knowledge and skills acquired from the training modules such as best farm management practices, business opportunities and challenges across all value chains and market access promotion.
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