About 114 agric entrepreneurs at Kwadaso Agric College have received funding from the third-phase take-off from a 4-week practical and intensive training from SNV’s GrEEn Project.
With support from the Ghana Education Service and funding from the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa and Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, SNV in collaboration with the Kwadaso Agricultural College awarded a national agriculture certificate to young entrepreneurs from the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana to further promote and strengthen agri-business amongst the youth.
The training provided participants with certification on Climate Smart Agricultural practices to the youths who have completed SNV’s Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) Programme and are interested in agriculture or are entrepreneurs in the agriculture value chain.
Ms Dorcas Hammond, the skills development advisor of the SNV-GrEEn project, also encouraged that the training will sharpen the skills of beneficiaries which will in turn, help to advance agricultural development in the country.
A total of three pilot phases were carried out, with pilot 1 and 2 occurring in the Ashanti Region in two districts: The Ejisu Municipality and the Ejura- Sekyedumase Municipality, which are predominantly farming communities.
Under the final phase, the training was scaled up with a total of 69 – 29 women and 40 men – OYE graduates from the Ashanti (Sekyere Afram Plains and Sekyere Kumawu) and Western (Jomoro, Wassa Amenfi East, and Ahanta West) Regions receiving the training over a 2-week period.
Senior Skills Development Advisor at SNV Ghana, Awudu Damani Musah, in an open remark, stated that the initiative is to equip the youth with the necessary skills to strenthen agribusiness in the country.
“We believe the youths hold the keys to sustainable development; however, we understand they lack opportunities. To bridge this gap, SNV uses our flagship Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) Programme, which partners with public and private institutions to increase entrepreneurship and employability skills for youth job makers and job seekers. Under our GrEEn Project, SNV Ghana has been implementing OYE by carrying out skills training, facilitating on-the-job skills development through internships and practical learning as well as providing funding to green microbusinesses and start-ups,” Awudu Damani said.
The Ashanti Regional Director of MoFA, John Manu, also encouraged participants to make good use of knowledge they have acquired to improve their various farming activities.
Touching on the comments of the Vice Principal of the Kwadaso Agric College, Dr, Ishaq Shaibu commended the implementation of such initiatives that foster agricultural growth and development.
