Kwesi Adu Gyan, Bono East Regional Minister, has expressed a commitment to making agriculture attractive to the youth in the region.

He noted that the youth were the driving force for national development and needed to be empowered through agriculture.

The region is the fourth largest agriculture producer in the country with over 95 per cent of land suitable for commercial agriculture.

Mr Gyan, who was briefing the media at Techiman in the Bono Region, explained that a long stretch of the Volta River, which serves as a natural boundary to the North and South-Eastern corner, provided a huge potential for aquaculture.

The region has the potential to be a food basket and commercial hub in the country through block farming and value addition to attract the educated youth, he added.

He said cooperation between the private and public sector would make the farming business an attractive venture for the youth.

Mr Gyan said construction of vegetable parks in Techiman North and South was underway to complement the Tanoso and the Subinso irrigation projects.

The parks, he said, would be developed into modern vegetable agro parks for all year production to provide raw materials to feed the factories in the area.

He pointed out that the Bono East would continue to be the food basket of the country by working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to increase their support for farmers under government flagship projects, including the Planting for Food and Jobs, Rearing for Food and Jobs, and Planting for Export and Rural Development.

The Region would also make use of high yield seeds and better storage and preservation systems for the small and medium-scale farmers to produce enough crops for consumption.

Touching on Human Capital Development, Mr Gyan said that education and human resource development was undoubtedly the most important tool in the pursuit of socio-economic progress of the people and was working with stakeholders to leverage the opportunities offered by education and training to increase knowledge.

He said he would collaborate with stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education to increase enrollment, provide enabling environment to establish Science, Engineering and Mathematics in Senior High Schools (SHS) and upgrade some existing SHS into model ones to enhance teaching and learning.