Farmers have been advised to blend their agricultural activities with Information Technology (IT) in order to attract the needed expertise and market for their work.
Mr Nazir Bin Salih, the Chief Executive Officer of Abdulla Farms, a commercial mango plantation in the Upper West Region who made the suggestion insisted that considering the challenges farmers in the country faced with regards to access to relevant information on their vocation and ready market, it was necessary to use technology to make up for the gap.
“Farmers can for instance log onto the internet to get information about new crop species, high yield crops and how to cultivate and nurture them to grow without having to rely solely on extension officers who are never enough in the country,” he said.
The CEO stated this in a panel discussion at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Yison Tech Hub on Monday at Wa for various individuals who had distinguished themselves in their respective fields of endeavour using IT to share their experience with the youth.
Dubbed “Wa Start-up Pitch Summit” with support from the Young African Network and Ministry of Communication, among others sought to raise an IT oriented generation for the region.
Mr Salih explained that technology had helped him to locate clients for his produce beyond his jurisdiction and advised that young people could assist farmers in rural areas with such IT support.
“We have issues with poor roads such that about 50 per cent of farm produce in some areas never get to the market meanwhile there are people elsewhere who are in dire need of these commodities, if the farmers could get someone to assist them advertise their produce on the internet even before they harvested them, post-harvest losses would be reduced drastically,” he said.
Mr Salih encouraged the youth to think innovatively and take up the challenge of creating opportunities for themselves and farmers in that regard by setting up digital market spaces and information sharing centres to enhance the gains of agriculturists in the country.
Another panelist, Mr Lukeman Tahiru encouraged women to move their interest in IT beyond sharing pictures on social media for comments to creating economic content that would serve as a source of income for them.
He asked them to disabuse their minds about the gender stereotyping that came with the use of IT in our part of the world where men were assumed to be the core IT nerds whilst women only enjoyed the fun part and challenged them to get involved in the IT world for enhanced wellbeing.
The CEO for the Yison Tech Hub Mr Issahaque Serikpera Naa said that he had developed particular interest in training the youth of the region to build their interest in IT and also get them begin to create jobs for themselves.
“Our trainings are absolutely free so I will use this platform to encourage the youth particularly women to take keen interest in our courses and enroll.
The programme was used to award young persons who had excelled in their IT drive in the region.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
