‘Make Youth Interested In Agric’

The president of the National Farmers' Union, USA, Roger Johnson, has advised government to devise strategies to attract more Ghanaian youths into the agriculture sector.

He said government should also create an enabling environment to assist those already in the sector, and develop innovative ways to inculcate agriculture into the school curricula to retain students’ interest in the sector.

Mr. Johnson said this in Accra when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

He was in the country to participate, for the first time, in the sixth National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO), which ended on Thursday, in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

Mr. Johnson stressed the need to encourage more youths to go into agriculture for the sustainability of the sector, and also to reduce the unemployment phenomenon in the country.

He said his visit to the country was to seek partnership and collaboration with government for the mutual benefit of both farmers in Ghana and USA.

Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, Minister of MoFA, mentioned that government was initiating strategies to transform and reposition the country’s agricultural sector “to be the game changer in Ghana and Africa”.

He noted that Africa depended heavily on the sector for its economic growth, and stressed government’s commitment to assist farmers in the sector.

Mr. Kwetey expressed optimism about the 2014 edition of FAGRO, as it would create a platform for exchange and transfer of ideas for stakeholders in the sector, and urged all to participate in the FAGRO.

The president of this year’s FAGRO, Adam Sulley, said the presence of the USA National Farmers Union President was a boost for the programme, as farmers in the country would have the privilege to learn from the union that had existed for more than100 years.