Most new jobs to be in agric sector

Ho, May 30, GNA - Most new jobs in Ghana between now and 2015 will be in the agricultural sector, earmarked as the bolster to Ghana's bid to become a middle level income country by 2015.

Mr Evans Kanfra, a Principal Development Planning Officer at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) made these observations at a day's workshop in Ho for Planning Officers and representatives of some focal non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from selected districts in the Volta and Eastern regions at the weekend.

He said it would be necessary to sensitise the youth to disabuse their minds of getting jobs on the factory line in the cities, as the mistake of bypassing agricultural development to build factories, which depended mainly on imported raw materials, would not be repeated. The Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND) sponsored the workshop to sharpen skills of participants on utilizing opportunities and interventions in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II)- 2006-2009- for the improvement of the livelihoods of the poor, vulnerable and the excluded.

Mr Kanfra said since agriculture provided employment for 60 per of the population, that sector's overhaul to produce far more than currently would have a snowballing effect on the national wealth. He said the GPRS II envisaged a change in technology to significantly raise production of small-scale producers who were the mainstay of the industry.

Participants were expected to go back to their districts and link up rural groups to the benefits, such as credit lines provided for their growth in the GPRS II.