The declining labour force is a serious threat to Ghana’s cocoa industry, which was once the pride and foundation of the country’s economy.

The youth no longer find cocoa growing as appealing, despite its historical significance. There are several intricate challenges that need to be addressed immediately.

Results of SEND Ghana’s research on gender responsiveness Ghana has illuminated this matter, exposing a depressing lack of enthusiasm for cocoa growing among the younger generation.

An important hurdle that keeps young farmers from entering this important sector of the economy is the use of traditional farming methods, which are ingrained in generational norms as well as inadequate inputs.

The Senior Programme Manager for SEND Ghana, Harriet Nuamah Agyemang highlights how urgently the cocoa business needs to innovate and modernise in order to give young farmers access to modern farming methods and technologies.

She added that “Farming itself is not attractive to young people these days because we are still using our local implements. Farming is still rudimentary for most people and people don’t want to exert so much energy these days into farming.”

Mrs Agyemang further explained that “Young people think that whatever is due them should be paid and then they would go and procure their inputs for their farms, rather than being given inputs that are inadequate but at the end of the day, the cost of those inputs are being deducted from the money they are given for their beans.”

Amidst these urgent worries, groups such as SEND Ghana are raising the alarm and pressuring decision-makers and business stakeholders to tackle the fundamental problems confronting the cocoa industry.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is predicting a robust agricultural sector to foster food sufficiency as the nation launches the Youth in Agriculture Programme (YIAP).

“Sustaining agriculture depends on the youth,” he argued, saying the Programme aimed at reinvigorating the sector’s human resource base.

YIAP is one of the key agro-based initiatives of the Government to motivate the youth to accept and appreciate farming and food production as a commercial venture – taking up farming as a lifetime vocation.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, in an address at the launch in Accra, said the Programme was being implemented to leverage opportunities for the youth along the agricultural value chain.

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It is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Youth Employment Agency (YEA) under the second phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PfJ) policy.

The four main components are Crops and Block Farm, Livestock and Poultry, Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Agribusiness.

Under Livestock and Poultry, the component targets young unemployed men and women to take to the production of livestock and poultry – broilers, layers, guinea fowls and piggery.

Beneficiary youth will be assisted with day-old chicks in the case of broilers, layers and guinea fowls. They will also be provided with housing, feeding, drugs and vaccines until they are weaned off the Programme in about a year.

Similarly, breeding sows and pigs together with the other inputs will be provided.

There is also a programme for other animals such as cattle, sheep and goats and other stocks such as rabbit and grasscutter, with the participating farmers being trained since animal production is a specialised area.

The President acknowledged the fact that youth unemployment remained one of the major challenges the country had faced over the years.

He said as such, the Programme was to serve as an avenue for the beneficiaries to harness and maximise their agricultural potential for economic growth.

The initiative will assist the youth to be empowered in producing enough food crops, meat and fish by adopting modern agronomic practices and farming methods.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said the Government’s agenda was to improve the erroneous impression the youth had about farming.

“We are talking about a sector and industry which can create wealth,” he noted.

He stressed that there was no single sector of the economy that had contributed so much to improving the living conditions of the people other than agriculture.

Dr. Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture, was worried that the core workforce in the agricultural sector was ageing.

There had been a consistent drift of the youth from the sector to other sectors, he stated, noting that the YIAP would eventually help to change that narrative.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has called on African governments to focus on innovation and technology in farming if Africa is to attain its potential as the food basket of the world. He was speaking at the Convention and 30th anniversary of the Council of Ewe Associations of North America (CEANA) in Atlanta, Georgia under the theme “Empowering our youth towards innovative entrepreneurship in transformational agriculture”.

The Speaker said technologies such as GPS, sensors, drones, and data analytics must be deployed in agriculture to optimize resource use, monitor crop health and improve yields. It will also enable the youth in agriculture to make informed decisions based on reliable data, reduce waste and increase efficiency.

He insisted that today’s youth are technologically savvy, making the crude approach to farming a turn-off for them. “If governments direct resources into modernising agriculture and infuse technology into farm practices, more youth will opt for the sector. This will address the challenges of feeding a global population sustainably, create economic opportunities for rural communities and transform how we produce, distribute, and consume food,” he said.

Innovation in agriculture, he said, should target waste reduction and a re-think through the perennial glut of farm produce, the horribly low prices during the glut, how farm produce are left to rot, only to be followed by a season of scarcity That, he said, should inform the approach to managing post-harvest losses and supporting agro-businesses to mitigate such losses.

Mr. Speaker suggested that marketing of farm produce could also do with innovation as it can support local economies in Africa, reduce food miles, and enhance the effectiveness of the food supply chain. Moreover, the youth farmers will generate more returns on their investment and re-invest in their farms.

To attract the youth into agriculture, he called for policies to promote secure land tenure and access for the youth. He mentioned land redistribution, leasing programmes, and support for communal land ownership as some necessary initiatives, as well as a deliberate effort to involve women, indigenous communities and the rural youth in agriculture.
He asked financial institutions in Africa to provide access to financing for young farmers, offer low-interest loans, grants, and subsidies to help the youth to invest in equipment and seeds among others. He explained that empowering the youth in agriculture requires a holistic approach that addresses the modernization of agriculture, education, access to resources, policy support and cultural attitudes. 

The Speaker, also known as Torgbui Nuterperwola Awudome I, congratulated CEANA, which groups Ewes from Ghana, Togo and Niger in North America, on its 30th anniversary. He said the resilience, perseverance and hard work that have sustained the association over the past three decades cannot be taken for granted. He spoke about the coincidence of CEANA, Ghana’s parliament and himself celebrating 30 years and said “I know what it takes to be doing the same thing for 30 years, and striving to be better each year than you were in the previous one”. 

He was impressed by CEANA’s commitment to improving upon farm practices and develop the Ewe communities in the three countries and said “it portrays an association of people who are altruistic, driven by the desire to make an impact on the current and future generations”.

The Speaker was accompanied by his wife, Ms. Alice Adjua Yornas, Hon. Emmanuel Bedzrah, MP for Ho West, Hon. Rockson Dafeamakpor, MP, South Dayi, Hon. Dela Sowah, MP, Kpando, Hon. Joycelyn Tetteh, MP, North Dayi, Hon. Kofi Attor, former MP, Ho Central and Mr. Speaker’s Special Aide, and Mr. Gayheart Mensah, the Speaker’s Communication Expert.