Chief of Party at the United States Department of Agriculture, Ghana Poultry Project (GPP), Ms. Carianne de Boer, has noted that young people are keenly interested in modernized agriculture that enables them to use phones, new technologies and computers.
She said the myth that young people do not like agriculture is untrue, but instead young people want to experience farming or agricultural activities that do not limit their imagination, potential and modern commercial prospects.
According to Ms. Carianne de Boer, to engage and empower young people in agriculture, the sector needs to address their aspirations, such as, making social mobility a central target.
She said this will help young people appreciate and approach farming as a real business that they can take up, to generate income, to cater for themselves and their families.
Ms. Carianne de Boer noted that, now is the time to seriously apply the value chain perspective and market system approaches to youth in agriculture.
“Young men and women can do amazingly well across any agricultural value chain— in transport, marketing, production, value addition, input supplies, and many more, using new skills for new forms of agriculture,” she emphasized.
She therefore applauded Agrihouse Foundation for its youth initiative project, the Agricultural Students Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue Bootcamp (AG-STUD), which offers training and mentorship for young men and women in various forms of agribusiness.
“It is now up to us as stakeholders to ensure that our public and donor investor policies truly reflect the resilient and prosperous future, we envision by taking a fresh look at our youth in agriculture and consider more serious and robust approaches to enable the youth gain access to knowledge, finance and modern technology” she stated.
Ms. Carianne de Boer made these comments yesterday, at the launch of the fourth edition of AG-STUD, organized annually by Agrihouse Foundation. This year, the 5-day event is on the theme, “We have Enabled and Established! Now its time to scale-up to feed Ghana.” It starts from Monday, 12 April – Friday, 16 April.
