Prioritise local products to boost agricultural sector – Keta MCE

Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Keta in the Volta Region, Wisdom Seade, has urged the public to prioritise local food production to help boost the agricultural sector and enhance productivity.

He said the Assembly had various strategies for transforming the sector in the municipality, including the showcasing of the importance of climate-smart agriculture and investment in storage facilities, value addition, and agro-processing.

He was speaking during the 41st Municipal Farmers' Day celebration at Hatorgodo.

"We are all aware that agriculture is a key sector in the country. It provides livelihoods for many citizens. However, the sector faces challenges such as climate change, limited access to credit, and poor infrastructure. And the government is poised to solve all these challenges to promote the sector as well,” he noted.

The MCE stated that to address the challenges, the farmers should embrace climate-smart agriculture practices, invest in storage facilities, and add value to agricultural products through processing and packaging.

He explained the potential of youth in agriculture and agribusiness, which highlighted their roles as game changers in transforming the sector and noted that empowering young people to engage in agriculture could help achieve sustainable food security and economic growth.

"There are many opportunities for youth in agriculture, including primary production, value addition through agro-processing, and service provision in logistics and digital agriculture from the government through the municipal assembly."

Seade noted that there were barriers that discouraged youth from pursuing agriculture as a career, which included limited access to land, credit, training, and ready markets, and to address the challenges, interventions such as youth-focused training, affordable start-up grants, access to land, cooperative models, and incubation hubs for agribusiness startups would be implemented.

He charged young people to view agriculture as a frontier of opportunity, while committing to invest in the next generation of farmers and agripreneurs for a prosperous and food-secure future in the Keta Municipality.

Seade said local farm produce like okro, pepper, onion, leafy vegetables, fishes among others, were of high quality and nutritious and could provide a healthy life for all.