EDITORIAL: This Initiative Must Succeed

In times past, farming in Ghana was regarded as a job for the uneducated and illiterate. Going into farming or any agricultural venture was, therefore, an anathema to the educated, much less so for university graduates.

However, since the introduction of enterprising agricultural polices and models, as well as the institution of the National Best Farmer Awards scheme, many of our educated folks, with or without any agricultural training, have ventured into farming and been very successful at it.

Yet ensuring food sufficiency in the country had been and continues to be an evasive wish for governments past and present.

That is why we are delighted by the initiative of the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences (CACS) of the University of Ghana to train and mentor agriculture graduates to become farm entrepreneurs.

Under the Rapid Results Initiative of the Graduate Farm Entrepreneurship Project initiative, the graduates, after training, will be offered land, machinery and equipment to operate their own farms, while the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will help them with the clearing of the land and purchasing of seeds and fertilisers to use as starters before harvesting begins.

What is even more gratifying about the project is the collaboration between the National Service Secretariat and the CACS to provide a nine-month allowance to the graduates as settlement grants while they work to establish their own farms within a space of one year.

The Daily Graphic thinks the project should not end with the provision of the initial start-up support. The government should go on to provide a ready market for the produce as well. This is because we know that the government is establishing farm barns to store up produce for the lean season and for emergencies.

However, we believe the project will be more successful if Ghanaians change their taste for foreign goods and consume what we grow. That calls for more public education and a change in attitudes and perception of locally grown food. It is pathetic that some of us never want to see or even taste locally produced rice but prefer to eat imported rice.

If the project is to achieve its objective of helping to establish community-based farm management centres, then we believe we must not neglect its educational aspect. Ghanaians must be re-oriented towards eating the food we grow, since that is healthier.

The Daily Graphic believes that if the nation supports the project, we will develop a critical mass of agricultural entrepreneurs who will change the face of agricultural production in the country.

The initiative of the CACS is highly commendable and we believe all stakeholders must support the project to ensure its success.