‘Infrastructure, sustainable funding crucial in enticing youth into agriculture’
The Executive Director of Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, has said infrastructure and sustainable funding are crucial in enticing the youth into agriculture.
He said after eight years of working in the agriculture sector, KIC had observed that lack of proper infrastructure, and funding remained a challenge to the youth.
Mr Gyan-Kesse stated this in an interview with reporters after the opening of the Agricultural Innovation for Africa (AIA) Conference held in Accra yesterday.
The two-day interactive forum brought key decision-makers, subject matter experts, professionals, industry stakeholders and value chain actors the opportunity to rethink the future of agricultural innovation, youth employment and food security in Africa.
Attended by more than 1,200 participants mostly the youth, the conference under the theme ‘Empowering youth start-ups and agri-Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs): Advancing food security through innovation and collaboration,’ has the aim to be a space for education on the necessary systems to help Africa on the journey to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.
Among the programmes, slated for the event are employer forum, career fair, panel discussions, and plenary sessions.
Mr Gyan-Kesse noted that the youth of the country were ready to venture into agriculture, saying what was needed was “intentional policies by the government,” to encourage the youth to embrace agriculture.
According to him, the youth were enterprising with a lot of innovative ideas, and with a little push and support, they could create their own businesses in agriculture and employ their unemployed colleagues.
Mr Gyan-Kesse further stated that KIC for the past eight years had been gathering the youth in agriculture, and giving them a voice and platform to explore their potential in agriculture and the agribusiness value chain.
The Executive Director of KIC highlighted that his outfit last year decided to take a bold initiative to start “This convening platform where we can have conversations, understand what is happening across the value chain on the continent and also pushing the agenda of youth inclusivity, gender inclusivity in the agribusiness value chain.”
Moreover, Mr Gyan-Kesse said this year’s programme had been structured in a manner to provide the participants with knowledge and help them appreciate what was happening in the space and how to navigate the challenges in the agriculture value chain.
He said the conference would come out with a policy paper on how to attract the youth into agriculture and the righty support the youth needed to thrive in the agriculture sector.
The Country Director of AGRA, Dr Betty Annan, who delivered the keynote address on the theme, ‘Empowering Youth Startups and Agri-MSMEs in Africa: Climate Change, Innovative Financing, Market Efficiency, Gender Mainstreaming for Sustainable Food Systems,’ said innovative financing mechanisms were critical to building climate resilience among the youth startups and agri-MSMEs.
“Access to affordable credit, blended finance model, and climate-focused investment funds can enable these enterprises to adopt sustainable practices, invest in climate-smart technologies and enhance productivity,” she stated.
Dr Annan indicated that enhancing market competitiveness through expanded market access, access to finance, and inclusive market systems were crucial for market efficiencies needed to spur on overall productivity, employment and growth of agriculture.
The Chairman of KIC and AIA Conference, Mr Joe Mensah, urged the youth to take advantage of the programme in order to build partnerships and collaborations.
He also encouraged them to learn more from the conference and update their knowledge on the opportunities, new innovations and technologies as well as trends in the agriculture sector.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
