Professor of Pathology, Agyeman Badu Akosa, has stated that more efforts are needed to add value to the floriculture and horticulture sectors in order to make them more appealing as an entrepreneurial venture.
He stated that the sector is booming, and with proper attention and youth investment, it has the potential to significantly reduce youth unemployment.
Delivering the keynote address at the 10th anniversary of the Ghana Garden and Flower Movement Show, titled: ‘Growth Unleashed’, he noted that investing in the sector will not only help reduce unemployment significantly, but will also help maintain a greener, wealthier, healthier and more beautiful country.
“Horticulture and floriculture is a new business growth area in a country where youth unemployment is more than the public figures will let out. The long period of electricity downturn, and the lack of investment in small and medium-sized businesses continue to rob the country of new employment opportunities.
“If the current buzzword is entrepreneurship, then let us begin by investing in horticulture and floriculture,” he said.
He stated that it is everyone’s responsibility to make practical gardening a part of their lives and the development of the Ghanaian child.
“We have lost, in the last 50 years, a considerable proportion of Ghana’s forest. And now the savanna ecology is pushing south into the rainforest, and water bodies have been polluted either in such a gross or by domestic waste. Ghana is growing brown, and therefore, the need to make Ghana greener again cannot be only on the shoulders of movements alone. It is incumbent on all of us, including national, regional and district leadership to make practical gardening an essential part of the growing of a Ghanaian child,” he added.
In a speech read on behalf of the Ghana Export Promotions Authority’s CEO, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, she stated that the importance of trees, plants, and flowers to our environment cannot be overstated, emphasising that trees and flowers do more than just beautify the environment.
She stated that horticulture and floriculture do play a role in creating various jobs along the value chain that contribute to improving livelihoods and overall wellness.
“Our focus has primarily been to deliver Ghana’s export base from the traditional gold and other unprocessed minerals – including cocoa, cocoa beans, timber logs and lumbar which are classified as traditional exports. In 2022, the agriculture sector earned Ghana US$476million, compared to US$433million earned in 2020.
“These earnings represent an input of 14.29 percent to total earnings of non- traditional export for the year under review. It might surprise you to know that in 2021, flowers, as well as medicinal plants were among the top 10 earnings in the agricultural sub-sector,” she said.
CEO of Stratcomm Africa, Esther Cobbah, said: “The 10th anniversary commemoration is an occasion for intensifying our collaboration with partners to unleash the huge potential we see for benefits to individuals, communities and the country from floriculture and horticulture”.
The 3-day event introduced many exciting activities including karaoke night, youth conference, movie night, educational retreat for children, fashion show, Israeli green innovation challenge, among others.
