One hundred participants yesterday begun a three-day workshop in Accra on youth agriprenuership development programme to build their capacity to venture into agribusiness as a means of employment.
They are being trained on the opportunities that abound in production and processing of aquaculture, rabbit, snail, mushroom, fruits and vegetable and also how to register companies and access financial assistance to manage their agribusinesses.
The participants are expected to improve their knowledge and techniques on producing and processing selected commodities, from industrial players to be able to venture into agribusiness and also be linked to established youth agriprenuers for mentoring.
It is against the background of the fact that Africa is young continent with almost 60 per cent of its population younger than 25 years and the youth remain key economic resources for boosting economic growth and development.
The programme is under the Multi-country support to promote employment opportunities for youth in agribusiness in Africa, jointly sponsorship of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisations(FAO) and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and being facilitated by the National Youth Authority and the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly.
A concept note on the programme observed that a baseline study by the FAO in 2020 found that previous youth development interventions in Ghana had overly concentrated on unemployment concerns, to the neglect of the other aspects of youth development such as restructuring the educational system for youth to acquire employable skills and creating enabling environment for creating new jobs.
In his opening remarks the FAO Representative to Ghana, MrNdiageGueye, observed that agriculture and agribusiness entrepreneurship were key to “sectors that can offer increased employment opportunities for Ghanaian youth.”
He added that the 2020 baseline report by the FAO also had shown that “youth preference for variety of value chain such as aquaculture, selected fruits, vegetable and small livestock that have the potential of generating income in the shortest possible time.”
Mr Gueye added that “building the capacity of the youth these value chains and promoting the incorporation of aquaculture, crops and small livestock in an integrated farming system can diversify and increase their sources of income while generating year-round employment.”
He pledged the commitment of the FAO to supporting interventions for the youth to acquire skills for sustainable development.
Eric Gyenin who represented UNIDO Representative in Ghana said the facilitators would exposed the youth to acquire the practical knowledge to venture into the agriculture value chain to contribute to income generation and economic growth, adding that “we see a very bright future for the youth in the long them.”
Nii Maale-Adsei, the Public Relations Officer of the assembly, on behalf of the Municipal Chief Executive urged the participants to build their capacities and make an impact in society.
By Salifu Abdul-Rahaman
