Ho, May 6, GNA - Mr Ransford Ocloo, Volta Regional Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council has suggested that the youth-in-agriculture policy would work well under the Ministry of Youth and Sports. He said the project would be better managed placed under the Ministry through the National Youth Council (NYC). Mr Ocloo made the suggestion at a sensitization forum on the project organised by the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC) in Ho on Tuesday.

He observed that previous productive youth focused programmes failed to benefit majority of people because they did not involve the NYC. Mr Ocloo urged the youth in the region to be proactive in order to benefit from the programme. He advised them to pursue less capital intensive agricultural activities such as mushroom farming, snail rearing and bee-keeping. Mr Ocloo explained that such agriculture activities apart from the little capital required to get them started have early gestation periods with high income-generating potentials. He urged the youth to see agriculture as an important sector which held great promises for the future of the country. Reverend Alexander Avor, Volta Region Focal person of the GTLC said the forum sought to encourage the youth and women to "see agri-business as a lucrative business rather than as a business for the drop out from schools".

He said it was also to give the opportunity to the Regional Directorate of the Ministry for Food and Agriculture and the Regional Minister to brief the various farming groups from the 18 districts of the region on how the region would fare under the Youth in Agriculture Project. In its 2009 budget government proposed a Youth in Agriculture Project which aims at training 1,200 youth in agri-business, support 7,000 youths with inputs to cultivate 5,600 hectares of maize, rice or soghum in 70 districts in the country. About 4,000 youths would also be supported with modern inputs and irrigation facilities to undertake dry-season farming. Suitable lands were to be identified and negotiated with chiefs and land the owners for the programme including the development of an implementing manual for junior field and life schools. 6 May 09.