Pilot programme to
encourage youth to go into agriculture
Sunyani, Nov. 30, GNA - Government through the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture is to undertake
a pilot programme to assist unemployed youths in
the Brong Ahafo Region to go into agricultural
production.
Initially, the Ministry has acquired 800 acres
of land at Branam in the Wenchi District and
Ayerede in the Nkoranza District.
Mr Richard Assah Dartey, Regional Director of
the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), who
announced this at a press briefing prior to the
regional Farmers' Day celebration in Sunyani
said beneficiaries of the programme, which would
start early next year, would go into maize,
soybean, cashew and cotton production.
He explained that the Ministry would plough the
land and provide the beneficiaries with the
necessary inputs and logistics as loan
facilities for them to undertake the programme.
Mr Dartey said the beneficiaries would be
encouraged to work on two to three hectares of
land and the Ministry would help them to get
access to ready markets, while also helping them
to improve agricultural production.
Government through the Ministry would then
deduct the initial loans provided to the
beneficiaries and the project would then become
their bona-fide property to make them
self-reliant, he added.
Mr Dartey said the Ministry intended to
cultivate 12,000 hectares of maize in the Region
to ensure national food security.
He expressed regret that some traditional
authorities were reluctant to release land to
the Ministry to start the programme.
Asked if the project was associated with the
National Youth Employment Programme, the
Regional Director said it was a different
project initiated by government to boost
agricultural productivity, while also creating
job opportunities in the Region.
GNA
