3,000 young graduates to train in post-harvest management, mechanisation by 2025

The World Food Programme (WFP) Ghana, in collaboration in with the Agricultural Engineering Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and the Mastercard Foundation has so far trained 398 graduates across the country in the installation, operation, problem diagnosis, maintenance and repair of post-harvest farm equipment.

The graduates were taken through six weeks of post-harvest mechanization training at the Ohawu and Wenchi agricultural colleges.

Out of the figure, the Chamber of Agribusiness has provided placement for 60 percent of the graduates who completed their training on September 20 and 22, this year at Ohawu and Wenchi respectively.

The WFP Ghana Coordinator for Sustainable Food Systems, Steven Odarteifio disclosed this to the Graphic last Friday (September 20), during the graduation event for 166 beneficiaries of the mechanization training programme at the Ohawu Agricultural College in the Ketu North municipality.

The National Service Authority (NSA) led the recruitment of the young graduates from universities and agricultural colleges from various parts of the country, he said.

Mr Odarteifio explained the programme’s vision was to train 3,000 young graduates in post-harvest management and mechanization by December 2025, while rebranding and building the capacity of the country’s agricultural colleges and departments of agriculture across the various universities in the country.

So far, he said, 143 out of the 398 who benefitted from the six-week programme had already received a tractor driver’s license from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

He re-affirmed the WFP Ghana’s stance to support eight colleges of agriculture and departments of Agriculture of public universities in the country through the ‘Building Resilience Impact and Development the Graduate Employment’ (BRIDGE) programme, by providing each college with $100, 000 worth of post-harvest equipment, to enhance the capacity of their students to impact the agribusiness sector which is the key driver of economic growth within Ghana’s agricultural ecosystem.

He mentioned the beneficiary institutions as the Kwadaso, Damongo, Ejura, and Ohawu colleges of agriculture.

The rest, he said, were the Dabokpa Technical Institute, Adidome Farm Institute, Wa Technical Institute, and Bolgatanga Technical Institute.

The departments of agriculture of University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology, and University of Ghana would also benefit from the programme, Mr Odarteifio added. 

He explained the mechanization training programme would serve as a catalytic grant support to transform agricultural education in Ghana, which he maintained, held the key to sustainable livelihood impact for smallholder farmers across the country. 

Mr Odarteifio said the training for the young engineering graduates would help significantly to address the issue of post-harvest losses on farms, reducing the talent deficit for operating, installing, diagnosing, maintaining and repairing post-harvest equipment.