Queen Mothers in Agribusiness urges gov’t to make Agriculture attractive to the youth

Agriculture, they say is the wealth of a man, to this effect, Queen Mothers who are changing the negative narrative of agriculture in their various communities in Ghana have called on the government and stakeholders to support women in agriculture to make it attractive to the youths.

According to them, venturing into agriculture has helped supported their wards and families, hence believed that when strategic measures are put in place, agriculture will be very attractive to the youth.

Highlighting some of the challenges they are confronted with; access to finance, bad roads, unavailable markets, and illicit dealers selling fake agrochemicals and seeds to them have become the order of the day.

They made this observation at the 5th edition of Gathering of the Royals from the length and breadth of the country organized by AgricHouse Foundation under the theme: "Championing Agric -growth through our Queen mothers: The Agricbooster module in Accra."

Madam Evelyn Andoh, 2022 gold in the soil award winner and coffee farmer lamented that the unavailable of a ready market for coffee had compelled her no drink the coffee with her family daily and the rest goes to waste.

Other Queen mothers called on financial institutions to make access to finance accessible to women.

Addressing the press, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Yaw Frimpong commended Queen mothers for contributing hugely to the Agriculture sector by eliminating cultural barriers such as gender biases, insecurity and seasonal farming.

He said it is very important to be committed to ensuring a paradigm shift of Agriculture from a way of life to a serious business. He indicated that Agriculture in any form should no longer be constrained or limited by socioeconomic, cultural, and other factors.

Reacting to challenges outlined by the Queens, the Deputy Minister said the Agrihouse foundation has set the agenda to reap the full potential of agriculture by transforming and giving meaning and practical expression to Agriculture.

Reacting to illicit agrochemist dealers, he said the ministry is trying its best to fish them out.

"We going to embark on intensive education and we will need the media to help us," he lamented.

The Executive Director of AgricHouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa on her part added that the purpose of the workshop is to bring together all Queenmothers across the country who have made an impact in the agricultural sector to help improve the sector.

"These queen mothers are pivotal to grow of agribusiness in their communities over the years, as I worked at the Agrihouse Foundation and had the great privilege to travel across these communities and had an engagement with the Queen mothers over the years. I realised that they are instruments of growth and it's important to have an intervention that would bring both the Queen mothers and agribusiness together.

"We see these Queen mothers as influencers of growth, for the fact that they are farmers and understand the sector very much which we see to have a key dialogue such as this to support growth at the community level. We believe that that will contribute to driving the agric calendar a boost if we go towards this direction. She said a common solution to address the challenges women faced in the sector will be a great relief to them. This is a follow-up to last year's engagement," she explained.