The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has reaffirmed the government's commitment to supporting a new generation of agriculture professionals to spearhead the country's drive towards food security, import substitution and agribusiness development.
He said the government would continue to partner the private sector to create opportunities for young professionals returning from specialised agricultural training, stressing that Ghana's agricultural transformation depended on a skilled, innovative and entrepreneurial workforce.
Speaking at a ceremony held at the forecourt of the ministry to welcome 115 Ghanaian graduates who recently completed specialised agricultural studies at the People's Friendship University in Russia under the sponsorship of the African Agribusiness Consortium (AAC) and the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr Opoku described the graduates as a critical national asset whose knowledge would help modernise agriculture.
"Our country needs highly skilled, innovative and committed young professionals who are prepared to apply modern agricultural science, technology and management practices to improve productivity and enhance value addition across the agricultural value chain," he said.
The minister explained that agriculture remained central to the government's economic transformation agenda, with deliberate efforts being made to increase food production, strengthen food security, create jobs and reduce the country's dependence on food imports.
Government support
As part of measures to support the graduates, Mr Opoku announced that the ministry had allocated 750 acres of irrigated land at Kunedu under a partnership agreement with the African Agribusiness Consortium for commercial vegetable production.
He explained that while the government would provide the land and irrigation infrastructure, the consortium had committed itself to providing the logistics and financing irrigation services to ensure sustainable production.
"We are making available the land with the irrigation infrastructure. AAC has pledged to provide all the logistics required, and you must show us the difference," the minister charged the graduates.
He said the initiative formed part of a broader strategy to promote agricultural production, processing, value addition, storage, marketing and commercialisation while creating employment opportunities and increasing exports.
The minister further commended the African Agribusiness Consortium and the Jospong Group of Companies for investing in Ghana's human capital, describing the initiative as a model worthy of emulation by other private sector organisations.
He urged the graduates to embrace innovation, remain united and dedicate their expertise to solving practical challenges confronting Ghanaian farmers.
"The future of Ghana's agriculture belongs to those who are innovative, technologically driven, entrepreneurial and committed to excellence," he stated.
Investment in people
Supporting the minister's call, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, said sustainable development could only be achieved through deliberate investment in people.
Dr Agyepong said the decision to sponsor the graduates to study agriculture in Russia was informed by the group's long-standing belief that people, rather than machines, remained the greatest resource of every successful organisation.
"You can have machines, technology and every other resource, but the human being remains the most important factor in driving every successful organisation."
Dr Agyepong recalled that when Zoomlion Ghana Limited was established in 2006, the company recruited young graduates from various universities and invested heavily in their development.
He said the strategy had enabled the company to expand successfully into 29 African countries, with many of the young professionals leading feasibility studies, preparing business proposals and winning competitive bids across the continent.
"The investment yielded results because we invested in people first," he stressed.
Dr Agyepong said the same philosophy had inspired the decision to sponsor young Ghanaians to study modern agriculture in Russia, urging them to use the skills acquired as a foundation to help transform Ghana's agriculture and improve food production.
"The knowledge and skills you have acquired in Russia should become the foundation for a new revolution in farming in Ghana," he said.
