Minister of Finance Ken Ofori Atta, in his presentation of the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review earlier in the week, announced that the government, in partnership with the National Service Scheme (NSS) Secretariat, has secured about 20,000 acres of farmland to drive interest in agriculture among the youth.
This highlights government’s commitment to promoting agriculture among the youth as part of measures geared toward increasing food production.
Located in the Ashanti Region, the said land will be developed and serviced with the state-of-the-art technology to enable mechanised farming as well as to accelerate maize, tomato, groundnuts and animal production.
The development would go a long way to complement the flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) initiatives.
In fact, the NSS Secretariat, over the past few years, has ventured into innovative partnerships with different organisations – both private and public – to develop skills of personnel in different areas, while also addressing the gulf between academia and industry.
For instance, the NSS in 2022 ventured into the building sector in partnership with Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) in attaining low-cost housing for the nation in what was described as a game-changer by Education Minister Yaw Osei Adutwum though it’s yet to yield much results.
Additionally, in 2021, the NSS, in partnership with the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and Innohub – a business accelerator that supports small and growing businesses, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to officially commence the UPSA Venture Lab Entrepreneurial Programme.
Focusing on how the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) directly contributed to increased crop yields for major food staples, such as maize, rice and soya by 135 percent, 67 percent and 18 percent respectively, he was confident that the partnership with the NSS should see more youths venturing into agriculture.
As phase II of the PFJ sets off, key elements include inputs credit system (ICS), storage and distribution infrastructure (SDI), commodity trading, and digitised platforms, which should excite the fancy of the youth to take up ventures in agriculture to boost agri-business and food security.
Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world, including Ghana. The most affected countries are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
The youth must help change the face of agriculture in the country as a viable employment option.
