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Dispel myth about agric — Minister

The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Dr Bryan Acheampong, has called on stakeholders in the sector to work collectively to dispel the myths and negative perceptions about farming. 

That, he said, would enable the younger generation to tap into various government interventions and adopt advanced agricultural processes for sustainable economic growth.

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“Youth and women are the backbone of our transformation; we must collectively dispel the myth that farming is only for the uneducated or involves back-breaking labour with low economic returns,” the minister said in a speech read on his behalf by the ministry’s Head of Public Relations, Bagbara Tanko, at this year’s Ghana Youth Agriculture Summit in Accra last Friday.

 Summit

The summit brought together scores of youth from senior high schools and agriculture colleges across the country to learn about agriculture entrepreneurship.

It was organised on the theme: “Transforming agriculture for sustainable growth through innovation, empowering youth, women and climate action”.

The summit featured various presentations on topics, such as “How to change the narrative to involve the youth for food security and inclusion”, “Raising the next generation of food champions through Africa for Africans”, “Remodelling financing for agribusiness and agro-processing,” among others.

Dr Acheampong explained that MoFA was focused on building a modern, technology-driven agriculture sector that could drive sustainable livelihoods for the people, particularly the youth. 

Interventions

He added that through flagship programmes such as Planting for Food and Job (PFJ) Phase Two, the ministry was creating the conditions for youth-led agriculture and enterprises to strive.

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“PFJ 2.0, which has transitioned from a subsidy-driven approach to an input-created system, is designed to stimulate productivity in 11 critical commodity value chains.

“By empowering our youth to adopt advanced agricultural processes, we are fostering a new generation of agric entrepreneurs, farmers and entrepreneurs and innovators who will lead Ghana's agriculture revolution,” he said.

The ministry, he said, was committed to expanding access to precision farming tools such as data analytics and data solutions to propel agriculture into the future. 

Platform

The ministry’s digital platforms such as the Ghana agriculture and agribusiness platform application, he said, would allow farmers to access real-time information on weather markets and best practices, which would help them to make informed decisions that would improve yields and reduce waste.

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Aside from that, the minister said, the ministry was also actively collaborating with primary sector partners to bring those solutions to the grass roots where they could make the most impact.

Consequently, he called on the youth to take a central role in this effort by raising innovative solutions that mitigated the impact of climate change, spanning the spectrum of agroforestry to renewable energy-powered irrigation systems.

The convener of the summit, Evans Kyere-Mensah, described agriculture as the game-changer in addressing unemployment in the country.

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He stressed the need to first begin a culture of reorientation by educating and training young people to see agriculture as a business opportunity rather than a mere occupation.

“If we are able to do this, I have a very strong conviction that in the next shortest possible time, Ghana would be at the forefront of championing food sufficiency for the rest of Africa and feeding the entire continent,” he said.

Mr Kyere-Mensah further called for the development of a national development blueprint for agriculture, which would serve as the basis for political manifestos and implementation strategies.     

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