Majority of young people have positive attitude towards agriculture, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), a new study has revealed.
The study revealed that more than 91 per cent of the respondents said they were willing to work in those sectors if they were given the necessary training and skills.
The research was commissioned as part of the Ghana Grows Programme, which is a collaboration among Mastercard Foundation, the Springboard Road Show Foundation, and Lyme Haus, and aimed at helping to change the negative mindsets about agriculture and TVET.
Speaking at the launch, Mrs Comfort Ocran, Executive Director of the Springboard Road Show Foundation, said, “Ghana Grows is a three-year programme comprising a series of multi-faceted interventions that seek to inspire young people aged between 15 and 35 years, especially young women, to explore opportunities and deliberately pursue decent and fulfilling careers in agriculture, agribusiness, TVET.”
She said the survey captured the views of over 1,100 randomly selected young people between 15- 35 years across all 16 regions of the country.
Mr Ocran said the findings showed that 46 per cent of the young people surveyed were unemployed, with 36 per cent having a tertiary degree.
“The young people’s knowledge of the agriculture and ATVET sector was commendable, with over 80 per cent of them knowing that the professions in the sector go beyond farming to include economists, scientists, and engineers. However, only 40 per cent had knowledge of programmes and opportunities being offered to the youth, 33 per cent knew about programmes for women, and 24 per cent knew about programmes for persons with disabilities,” Mrs Ocran stated.
She explained that the Ghana Grows Programme was aimed at shaping the thoughts of young people about agriculture, agribusiness and TVET and engagements with policy makers in those sectors.
“It is, therefore, necessary to capitalise on the positive attitude of young people towards the sector, improve their perception of it, and create an enabling environment and clear pathways for them to participate in the agriculture and ATVET sectors,” organisers noted
BY TIMES REPORTER
