Serious mechanisation needed to improve food security - Emmanuel Ansah-Amprofi

Ghana can achieve rapid growth in agriculture and produce markets through mechanisation and modern farming practices to help improve food security, the Chief Operating Officer of Trotro Tractor, Emmanuel Ansah-Amprofi, has said.

Investing and engaging the youth in agricultural demonstration and financing, together with modern technology, can help attract more young people to the sector, he said.

Emmanuel Ansah-Amprofi was speaking at a Trotro Tractor Day seminar held in Tamale on agricultural machinery and equipment financing, with a field demo introducing drone-spraying technology.

The event was organised by Trotro Tractor Limited, and brought together students from the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale Technical University (TTU), farmers and other stakeholders, on the opportunities modern technology offers in the agriculture sector.

The students and farmers were taken through opportunities in the sector and the need to harness the country’s potentials to earn a living without relying on menial jobs that do not even exist.

It was also to educate them on the state of agriculture mechanisation in Ghana, a private sector perspective and opportunities within the sector.

According to Emmanuel Ansah-Amprofi, the forum was to give the youth an opportunity to identify potentials in the field and how they can access them to create jobs.

The participants were trained on drone-spraying, drone-piloting, and the use of mechanisation and technology to ease the stress farmers go through in their work.

“We need to introduce mechanisation into the agricultural sector to make farming easier for the farmers, and for them to cultivate on a large scale to increase crop yields,” he said.

“If we want to attract more people to the sector, there is a need for government and the private sector to work together and come up with measures that can boost the sector,” he added.

Taking the participants through a field demonstration, the grounds operations manager at Trotro Tractor, Charles Agyapong, admonished the students to take advantage of government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme to venture into the agricultural sector.

He urged the farmers to desist from using uncertified fertiliser and other chemicals on their crops, which can harm human health.

Some students who benefitted from the training expressed gratitude to the company for the initiative, pledging to put what they learned into practice.

Robert Bordzah, an agricultural science student from UDS, stressed the need for government to support Agric departments of educational institutions to acquire equipment and gadgets for practical training.

Practical training, he noted, is seriously needed to help students hone their skills so they can establish their own Agric businesses after school.