The Executive Director of National Service Scheme, Hon. Osei Assibey Antwi has reiterated the commitment of the Scheme to provide hands on jobs for personnel interested in pursuing agriculture as a venture.
The move, according to him, is in line with the current resolve the Scheme to deploy, retrain and provide employment opportunities for National Service Personnel under the Deployment for employment mission of the Scheme.
He acknowledged that, even though agriculture has been given some appreciable level of attention over the past few years, agrobusiness in Ghana has still not been accepted by the wide section of the Ghanaian youth.
He bemoaned that the youth’s apathy towards agriculture in Ghana has been long lasting and demands that more vibrant steps must be taken as a measure to build their interest in the agriculture field.
“Over the past few years, some people have seen the light in agriculture and have taken advantage of it but it is not enough, there are more opportunities in the venture that as a country, we have not explored yet and this is the time,” he said.
He emphasized that the youth have no excuse to shy away from indulging in farming since the country is well positioned to support agribusiness.
“With the kind of arable land and the stable climate we have in Ghana, we should never experience famine because we can grow almost everything we consume here in this country and will not need to depend on other countries for some food items,” he said
“Without education, the Ghanaian youth can be given field training and with the help of advanced technologies, we will all be well to do than rely on government to provide us with jobs.
He advised the youth to take particular interest in pursuing agriculture as a means to keeping themselves busy, adding that “even if you are already employed, get a small land and grow some tomatoes and pepper. It will save you the cedis you use in buying them for a long time.”
Hon. Assibey Antwi made this observation when Management of the Scheme paid a working visit to witness a land clearing activity on a 200,000-acre land acquired by the Scheme in Kumawu for agriculture and purposes.
The Project
The project, known as the NSS Kumawu Farm project, is expected to engage, retrain and provide employment opportunities for over 20,000 young people annually.
Through this, the Scheme hopes to develop up to 20,000 acres of arable farmland for the cultivation of maize, rice and soybean
The farm will also have animal husbandry, aquaculture, poultry and other ancillary infrastructure that will make it a truly integrated farm.
The management of the NSS, on this project, has keen interest in promoting employment for persons with special needs and women in agriculture.
