Agric sector stakeholders are demanding that educational authorities discontinue the use of weeding as a form of punishment in schools. According to them, the use of weeding and school farm work as a form of punishment for misbehavior discourages students from pursuing future careers in agriculture. They note that this has negative consequences for the participation of educated young people in agricultural production, which is necessary for the modernization of agric production for wealth creation. The demand was made at a stakeholder's summit in Kumasi that brought together about 2000 students, agric lecturers, farmers, agric entrepreneurs, and other agric professionals to discuss how educated young people could be mentored to venture into agric entrepreneurship.
Executive Director of summit organizers - Agro Mindset Organization, Mr. David Asiamah, described as untenable the practise where teachers punish students with weeding, when it is impossible for them to punish school children with T-shirt designing or other forms of professional tasks. He noted that with other world economies tumbling, the surest way for the elimination of poverty in Africa lies in getting young people who have attained higher education, to take up jobs in agric production and entrepreneurship.
SHS agric students attending the summit complained about the attitude of colleagues of theirs who make mockery of them for the course they read, and called for a change in the perception that agriculture is a dirty job. KNUST Agric Student Audrey Kareen Gambrah noted that with the support of policy makers, her generation of agric professionals would highly impact the socio economic development of the country positively, and hence change the negative mindset people have about agric production. Head of the KNUST Center for Business Development, Mr. Ralph Nyedu Addo questioned why the Senior High Schools have made weeding the most common form of punishment for students.
“How would you like agric if any internal suspension would mean you would have to go weed?,” he asked. He charged young people to be innovative in the way they promote agric entrepreneurship just as players in other business fields are doing. The Agro Summit sought to develop the business acumen of students so they can build up their entrepreneurship skills to successfully undertake agribusiness tasks. British Agric Entrepreneur, Philip Nicholas Watts who was guest speaker at the summit encouraged African agric professionals to take full advantage of the rising cost of food and fuel across the world to enrich themselves. Participants called for the boosting of support for the agricultural sector in order to make the country food sufficient and ensure food security.
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