OCP woos youth into intensive farming

Samuel Oduro-Asare, Country Manager, OCP Ghana Limited, has urged Ghanaian youth to practice intensive agriculture to maximize yields and profit.

Speaking to participants of the 2021 4th Agricultural Students Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue (AG-STUD Africa 2021), he said intensive farming was the ability to maximize yield from a small piece of land space as compared to the practice where one would have to acquire wide acres of land before cultivation.

It is always good to start small and expand thoughtfully into commercial levels, he advised.

He said the agribusiness sector provided a lot of opportunities along its value chain.

Additionally, he said starters should venture advisedly and with guidance and mentoring to maximize their success in the business.

Mr Oduro-Asare urged them to take advantage of backyard gardening, working on pieces of lands within their communities that were easily accessible.

Mr Ahmad Hashemi, President Reyco Agricultural Consulting, said they should not be driven into uninformed migration but rather seek opportunities in the agricultural sector in Ghana.

He said the opportunities in the country were promising and that they should put in collective efforts to build the nation's economy.

Madam Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, Executive Director, Agrihouse Foundation, said this year's camp from Monday, April 19 to Friday to April 23, 2021, in Accra, was on the theme, "We have Enabled and Established the Agri-youth: Time to scale them to feed Ghana".

She said this year's camp housed participants from 16 tertiary institutes from across the country.

She said AG-STUD Africa is a 5-day agribusiness Bootcamp designed by Agrihouse Foundation to support in leading the charge for youth agric reawakening and create avenues for agric students’ socialization.

It is also an excellent avenue through which the agenda of increasing youth awareness and engagement in agribusiness could be advanced.

She said over the years, the Bootcamp had trained and mentored about 600 students directly and about 20,000 students indirectly.

Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Member of Parliament for Korle Klotey and Patron of AG-STUD Africa Bootcamp, urged them to use technology and media to promote their business and promote themselves.

All participants were presented with certificates of participation and the schools were given spraying machines and seeds to support their projects.