President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has challenged Ghanaian youth to fully take advantage of government’s youth in agriculture programme under the Planting for Food and Jobs Phase II.
“There’s a lot of money in agriculture, go out there and make some for yourselves”, those were the words of President Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians especially the youth when he joined the presidential conference on youth in Agriculture organized by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) at the University of Ghana, Legon.
In a speech, the president lauded the YEA for the numerous interventions to provide employment for the youth and reduce the level of unemployment in the country.
The President also noted that, since 2017, his government has invested substantially in youth development programmes adding that these programmes have been targeted at developing the intellect of the youth and at the same time offering them entrepreneurship skills.
Furthermore, the President mentioned that the first phase of the planting for food and jobs saw the subsidization of food crops to allow farmers to increase their yields and corresponding income.
The establishment of NABCO and the creation of numerous youth intervention programmes under the initial phase of the PFJ and from the YEA according to the President provided skills and jobs for some unemployed graduates who took advantage of the programmes.
“In spite of these interventions, youth unemployment remains a major challenge and source of concern. This is why I have to commend the minister for food and agriculture for creating the youth in agriculture programme”.
With the new intervention under the PFJ Phase Two, President Akufo-Addo said it demonstrates his government’s commitment to creating jobs for the youth hence the youth need to take advantage of the programme and also create opportunities for themselves.
“I urge the youth to rally around this initiative to form partnerships for the maximum benefit of the programme”, he stressed.
The Youth in Agriculture Programme, which would be led by the Ministry for Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in collaboration with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) as part of the Planting for Food and Jobs Phase II Initiative (PFJ 2.0), is aimed at empowering and supporting young individuals to engage in commercial crop farming.
This initiative also seeks to address the challenges young farmers face in securing land and resources for farming.
According to the MoFA and YEA the project will commence in Wenchi, located in the Bono region of Ghana, with plans for rapid expansion across the country.
Under this program, beneficiary youth farmers will receive training on modern farm management practices, ten (10) acres each of land already developed for farming under the guidance of experienced aggregators assigned by the project.
The beneficiaries will also receive input credit such as seeds, fertilizers, Agrochemicals, etc., and services such as extension, and mechanization support (ploughing, harrowing, planting and spraying
