Eight Social Enterprises in the Western Region have received financial and logistical support valued at GH¢284,290 from the Urban Agriculture Training Programme.
The eight enterprises, made up of 240 people – 164 males and 76 females – including persons with disabilities (PWDs), went through four months of classroom and practical training sessions which focused on crop production, animal husbandry and aquaculture.
Special training sessions on entrepreneurship, bookkeeping, among others, were also provided to trainees under the Skills Development Training of the EU-funded Twin-Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project (TCSPP).
The project is aimed at impacting the lives of unemployed youth, women and returning migrants within the region.
Abdul Mumin Issah, Chief Executive Officer of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), speaking at a brief presentation of the financial support at Sekondi, explained that the eight beneficiaries were selected from among 14 applicants who successfully sailed through the two-stage evaluation process and field inspection of their proposed sites.
The applicants, he said, were to propose solutions that address some of the challenges defined by the TCSPP to create job opportunities in the value chain of crop production, animal husbandry and aquaculture.
According to the MCE, criteria for determining the exact amount of financial support for an applicant were based on the analysis of a detailed description of proposed activities, objectives, expected beneficiaries, outputs, costs and site location.
“The intervention areas were small irrigation systems for smallholder vegetable farming, vegetable seedlings, small farming implements, materials for homemade greenhouse construction, fingerlings, feed and materials for catfish rearing; poultry and rabbit production,” he added.
Similarly, he said agribusiness software and mobile applications to address the value-chain gap and web-based multi-stakeholder platforms to facilitate information flows and business transactions between suppliers and buyers were also eligible.
“The support given to your enterprises is not meant for irresponsible lifestyles. This is the time for you all to think and act like business-people. We will continue to monitor your progress and support you in any possible means to grow your enterprises,” he added.
