The immediate past Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Most Rev. Titus K. Awotwi Pratt has urged the youth to embrace agriculture as a means of reducing unemployment in the country.
He said agriculture had the opportunity to employ more people along its value chain and help the youth to have sustained income.
Most Rev Pratt said this on Saturday when he addressed the youth of the Calvary Methodist Church Ghana at an entrepreneurship summit dubbed an entrpreneurship conference under the theme, “ learn from the ant and create wealth- Proverbs 30:24-28”
The summit was aimed to reducing unemployment and underemployment among Christian youth through entrepreneurship and to encourage employed Christians to explore additional income avenues guided by biblical principles.
It was also to introduce innovative means for entrepreneurship to increase productivity in the modern era as well as link businesses with possible employees including volunteers.
Most Rev. Pratt indicated that the lack of interest among the youth towards agriculture was a result of their upbringing saying that “agriculture is seen as a form of punishment.
When a child is being punished especially at school, he or she is given a cutlass to weed thereby making agriculture unattractive to the child.”
He stated that churches could help the youth into agriculture by finding them land and setting up a revolving fund for them.
He said this would help boost the interest of the youth, produce raw materials for industry and increase employment opportunities among the youth.
According to Rev. Pratt, it was time the church and the nation at large invested in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to produce labour for the market.
He said the government’s policy on Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) should be seen by the private sector as a business venture.
The immediate past presiding bishop of the Methodist church, advised the youth to start small, control their expenditure and invest wisely.
An Information Communication Technology (ICT) Consultant, Dr Nana Kofi Annan, urged entrepreneurs to be professional, time bound, identify their delivery method while having a strict policy in their business.
He urged the youth to be innovative and
appreciate small beginnings and pleaded with them to start with the small
amount of money they have.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
