Vice Dean of the School of Agriculture at the University of Cape Coast, Prof Julius Hagan has urged the government to invest in agriculture by having long-term plans for it.
According to him, a long-term plan for the sector will enable the tertiary institutions to have the know-how to train students to fit into the long-term plan.
He said it is therefore important for leaders not to politicize issues on Agriculture in the country as that can hinder the development of the sector.
To him, policies regarding the sector should be made national policies to enable stakeholders to plan towards it as a long-term investment.
“If you take like Government policy on planting for Food and Jobs, it should not be a political party policy. It should be a National Policy so that in the next 20/30 years, we ask ourselves how we want to see the planting for Food and Jobs. Then all of us will be part of the whole process, not a small political party coming together and thinking that this is how you want to do it” he said.
He explained that the low unemployment rate in the agricultural sector shows Ghana’s ailing agricultural development.
He attributed this to the inadequate machines for processing crops produced in the country.
Prof Hagan stated that aside people going into crop production other sectors must be created within the Agricultural industry for crops to be processed.
“The Agric sector should be able to create opportunities and employment which we’ve not been able to do. So, in that sense, I would say we have not done much. There is a lot we need to do and I believe all is not lost. We can do better than we’ve done” he continued.
Prof. Julius Hagan added that for the interest of the youth to be increased in agriculture, provisions must be made to promote the use of technology for farming.
He said it is a known fact that the youth are discouraged from going into agriculture because of traditional practices of the use of the cutlass, and hoes among others for farming.
He reiterated that the availability of technological tools for farming will attract the youth into Agriculture as the youth of today are said to be avid users of technology.
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Source: Linda Afful/ATLFMNEWS
