The Deputy Minister of Food & Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale, has stated that farming is a very lucrative business, entreating agricultural graduates to take up commercial farming as a career.
Hon. Namoale said, “Instead of graduates relying on employment in the formal sector, they could acquire a small piece of land to cultivate some crops.”
He promised that his outfit would assist such persons with free technical advice since “government is prepared to make merchandised agriculture a priority.”
The Minister was speaking at the press launch of the first ever Agriculture Conference and Exhibition to be held in Sunyani from November 5 to 6 2009.
The conference is being organized by African Connections Limited, an international development and management &consulting firm, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food& Agriculture and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
It is to support government' efforts at making agriculture a key component of the economy.
Dr. Ayesha Hakeem, the Managing Director of African Connections, noted that the conference is under the theme: “First Annual Focus On Agriculture- Market Driven Agriculture For Accelerated Economic Development.”
She confirmed that the key objectives of the event were to provide a forum for stakeholders to network and explore strategies, including the encouragement of small-holder farmers to move toward market driven.
It is would also improve commercially viable farming and provide a platform for agro-based input suppliers and financial institutions which provide agro-loans to farmers.
The event would also display products and services and would introduce technologies such as irrigation to improve profits of farmers.
It would also bring together leaders of farmer-based organizations and international development partners, as well as private sector companies interested in improving economic livelihood through boosting agriculture, financial institutions and agro-based companies.
Dr. Hakeem stated that agriculture would only reach its full potential as the engine of growth in country, if there were a paradigm shift from subsistence agriculture, stressing that farmers should see themselves as businessmen.
She noted that the adoption of a market-driven approach to agriculture is essential for the agriculture sector to become a vehicle for rural economic development.
“If Ghana is to achieve its stated goal of achieving middle income status by 2015, then agriculture must drive economic development in the rural areas.
“It is therefore imperative that innovative strategies and polices are formulated and implemented to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector in the country,” she added.
She mentioned that majority of farmers in Ghana were small-scale farmers, adding that there was the need to focus on strategies to build the capacities of these farmers to become viable participants in existing market value chains.
Some highlights of the event would include conference sessions; exhibition of agricultural input, chemicals, machinery, financial products, services and innovative agricultural practices.
By Esther Awuah
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