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.

The rising cost of agriculture inputs, including fertilizer, is taking a huge toll on crop production and food prices. 

In Ghana, high cost of fertilizer can lead to less production. 

To mitigate the impact of the high cost of fertilizer on food security and to strengthen food system resilience in Ghana, SOS-GrEEn is promoting the production of organic fertilizer in some regions.

Frank Otu Acheampong spends over 2,000 Ghana cedis buying 6 boxes of fertilizer for his ten acre farm.

The high cost of farm production has affected his farm business financially.

“After SOS-GrEEn trained us on how to produce organic fertiliser with waste, I don’t buy organic fertilizers anymore and this has help me to be financially stable,” he said.

Currently, all inorganic fertilizers are imported with Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) taking about 50% of the imports while urea, ammonia and the rest cumulatively take the remaining 50%.

In 2020, Ghana imported about 620,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer to feed the agricultural sector, especially for the planting for food and jobs programme, which had a significant impact on production.

SOS-GrEEn has trained farmers in the Ashanti and Western regions to make organic fertilizer to mitigate the challenges faced by farmers. 

According to farmers, including Frank, “opting for organic fertilizer for his farm has improved yields and reduced cost”

Agnes a farmer said, “The training has really helped improve my rice farming. I use to spend the little I have on inorganic fertiliser but after learning how to produce fertilizer locally, I spend less on my own 3 acre of rice.”

The SOS-GrEEn Project under the EU and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is effectively managing community waste and utilizing organic manure as fertilizer to reduce the presence of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) in the environment while securing higher crop yields.

“The project has the goal of reducing the use of inorganic manure on farms and boost harvest. As part of our green agenda the skills we’ve equip the beneficiaries with  to produce organic fertilizers will conserve the earth,”SOS-GrEEn Project Coordinator, Shaibu Fuseini revealed.