Ghanaian actor, politician, and farmer, John Dumelo says there is the need to make the youth more interested in agriculture since it is lucrative.
According to him, he ventured into Agric since farming in Ghana has received little attention in the past years adding that one needs passion and perseverance in such a venture.
Mr. Dumelo, speaking at the Agripreneur conference organized by the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) at the University of Cape Coast on Friday, April 8 noted that the nation is losing a certain critical section of Ghanaians to other sectors other than Agric.
“I’ve noticed that most people go to the medical school to learn and become doctors, some go to law schools to become lawyers but for those who go to Agric schools, they hardly turn out to become farmers which is wrong”, he said.
He believes this should not be the case because the nation has all it takes to grow its own food.
“We have the sand, the soil and we have good weather so why are we not growing what we eat? Why are we still importing certain things that we can grow and feed ourselves”, he hinted.
Conference
The Agripreneur conference was aimed at encouraging students to explore the many areas of agriculture in Ghana since it is a very profitable and lucrative area.
The conference is part of NUGS’ mission to assist students in developing and charting a career path outside of their undergraduate education.
Themed “Building an enabling environment for the youth in entrepreneurship”, the conference brought together various speakers in the area of agricultural business and other relevant areas to encourage students to consider the tremendous prospects that pursuing a career in agriculture may provide.
Speaking on the relevance of the theme, Programs Coordinator with Kosmos Innovation Centre, Mr. Stanley Amamu indicated that an enabling environment has already been created for the youth through initiatives and policies implemented to assist them to venture into entrepreneurship.
He however said many have not taken advantage of those initiatives.
“There are a lot of initiatives out there now which some years ago were not there, so it’s up to the youth to take advantage. Some of those initiatives include National Entrepreneurship & Innovation Programme (NEIP) and other incubation hubs have come and these initiatives are meant to build the capacity of youth who are interested in entrepreneurship”.
He noted that agricultural opportunities abound in the country, thus the youth must pursue them instead of waiting for the government to create jobs for them.
“The youth need to demystify the notion that agriculture is about cutlass and hoes. The agriculture value chain is huge hence the youth have to make use of their 4 years of education and research so they can take advantage of some of the opportunities in the huge value chain” he emphasized.
Agriproducts
On the issue of registering products, Senior Regulatory officer with the Central Regional Food and Drug Authority (FDA), Madam Naa Koikoi Ewusie urged students to dispel the notion that registering products is expensive and cumbersome.
She indicated that it is very important to register a product as soon as it is developed as there are many benefits to registering one’s product with FDA.
“Registration of product is required by law that is the public health Act 2012 Act 851. Also registering a product gives assurance of safety to consumers since the FDA has vetted and approved the product,” she said.
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Source: Emmanuella Ama Gyamfi/ATLFMNEWS
