By Francis Kwabena Cofie
Accra, Oct. 03, GNA – Master Card Foundation in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited have organised the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for the Youth (HAPPY) in Accra.
The three-campus roadshow was held at the University of Professional Studies, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the University of Ghana all in Accra.
The programme was held in collaboration with Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) National at the three university campuses in Accra.
It was named “Young Agripreneurs Conference,” with the theme: “Empowering Agrofuture Entrepreneurs.”
The programme largely focused on young people from the age of 15 – 35 years.
Mr. Abraham Safo, Value Chain Enterprise Development Specialist in an address said the programme was important to rope in the young ones at the university, particularly those pursuing Masters’ programmes to understand the opportunities in the agricultural space.
“This is also to set their minds right from the onset and disabuse their minds that agriculture was synonymous to the traditional cutlass and hoe farming full of drudgery,” he said, adding that, it was to let them understand that there were other elements along the value chain which were equally rewarding and worthy pursuing.
Mr. Safo outlined some of such opportunities along the value chain as crop insurance, banking, credit management, among others all of which had an intersection with agriculture.
“We want them to appreciate the various dimensions of agriculture and agribusiness and its relation to whatever they are offering in school so that they are not confined to one area and complain of unemployment whereas there are opportunities to create entrepreneurship,” he said.
He indicated that the objective of the programme is to create about 330,000 jobs along four agricultural value chains in the areas of rice, tomatoes, poultry and soya bean.
He said Agri-Impact extends support to young entrepreneurs in agriculture through capacity building training, and that support was also extended to young entrepreneurs in the form of starter- packs, access to land, facilitating access to land, among others.
He said the programme did not necessarily add to the job numbers but helps us as a country to push agriculture to the forefront of the thinking of young graduates to take advantage of the opportunities in agriculture.
He called on the youth to see agriculture as a business and profitable venture out of which they could make a sustainable living.
Mr. Emmanuel Owusu, the GRASAG National President said the programme was organized to expose members to the opportunities within the agricultural value chain.
“We realize that issues of unemployment have become a challenge for our members across the country, so we thought it prudent to engage with Agri-Impact and its partners Mastercard and other implementing agencies to organize the event for our members,” he said.
He urged the youth to take advantage of the HAPPY programme which seems to create job opportunities for the youth in the next four years.
Mr. Owusu said with the advent of modern technology, agriculture has taken on a new dimension which does not necessitate being on the farm to till the land.
“We want our members to know that it was not a case of always doing an office corporate job, but you could venture into agriculture and earn sustainable income,” he said.
Nana Owusu- Achiaw, a Chief Farmer said to overcome the challenge of reducing purchasing power, young entrepreneurs should understand where the bulk of money goes in the scheme of things.
He urged participants to apply the FIST principle which deals with using technology for farming purposes, rendering services in the value chain, engaging in farm and food business among others.
He said this should be the guiding principle to generate sustainable income for a young entrepreneur.
At the end of the event, participants were taken through the rudiments of Curriculum Vitae preparation to give them a head-start in employment.
GNA