‘Grab Opportunities In Agro-Tourism’ — Chris Ibyisintabyo

Ghanaians have been advised to grab opportunities that abound in agro-tourism because it is still a grey area in African tourism.

This form of tourism which involves the attraction of people to farms, plantations, ranches and other agricultural enterprises or landmarks is yet to receive any meaningful attention in Ghana.

In an interview with NEWS-ONE on Friday during an agribusiness symposium organised rapper Trigmatic, Chris Ibyisintabyo, Sustainable Food System Coordinator with the World Food Programme (WFP), indicated that farming now transcends crop cultivation and rearing of livestock.

“Agro-tourism is a new area and as we are talking about the youth in agriculture, it is one of the areas you can engage in. It's part of conservation in agriculture. It promotes conservation farming and it's an innovation where people come to visit your farm for tourism purpose in addition to patronising your produce,” he said.

Reacting to why it is taking some African countries like Ghana a long time to consider this type of tourism, he explained that “I think we need to create more awareness. Many people don't know some of these ideas. As government workers, we need to promote where there are opportunities and this is an area where the youth can engage in.”

Trigmatic's symposium, which was held at the UNFPA offices at Cantonment in Accra, was under the theme: 'Make We Grow What We Chop'. It was to inspire young people to consider going into agribusiness.

Among persons who spoke on various issues in the sector were Farouk Yakubu of Royal Greenfield Farms, Awo Amoateng of Skin Gourmet, Seraphina Aku Batse of Idea Farms, Richard Addison of Kent Farms and CJ Biggerman of Agroyard Co. Limited and more.

---Daily Guide