A project that seeks to build the capacity of more than 46,000 graduate youth in agriculture to increase crop yields and animal products was launched yesterday in Gomoa in the Central Region.
Known as Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY), the project aims to cultivate 20,000 acres of land over the course of four years to create 81,980 jobs in agribusiness.
The overachieving goal is to increase food production (rice, soybean, tomato) and poultry by 104,000 by metric tonnes over the life span of the project, 2024-2028.
Launching it, the Director General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, said the HAPPY project was meant to harness the potential of the youth in agriculture to drive innovation, sustainability and economic growth.
He said the HAPPY project was not only farming but a nation-building venture to address food insecurity in the country.
Mr Antwi told newly posted National Service personnel that some of them would be working on arable lands in rural and peri-urban areas.
The NSA Director General said that the authority was collaborating with the Ghana Armed Forces, to establish ranches nationwide to revolutionise livestock farming.
Mr Antwi said the ranches would improve cattle production, create new job opportunities, and stabilise Ghana’s meat and dairy industries.
For his part, the lead of the Poultry Value Chain Agri-Impact Limited, Mr Prince Manu Yeboah, said HAPPY would increase production and productivity within the poultry, rice, soybean and tomato value chain.
He added that the project would promote value-addition, foster entrepreneurship and facilitate market development.
Mr Yeboah said that the HAPPY programme aimed to create 326,000 dignified and fulfilling jobs for youth targeted at women and persons with disability.
The Head of Business Development/ HAPPY at National Service Authority (NSA), Mr Gabriel Osei Junior, said that beneficiaries would own their lands after one year of training and would be provided with mechanisation and aggregation services.
When fully implemented, HAPPY would increase food production by 190,000 tonnes, generate annual revenue of 200 million dollars, and increase agricultural productivity in rice, soybean, tomato and poultry value chains to reduce import of strategic foods by 10 per cent.
The initiative is by MasterCard Foundation in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited and implemented by eight implementing partners which include NewAge Agric Solutions, National Service Authority, Ghana Cares (MiDA), Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture ( MOFA), TechnoServe, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Jobberman
FROM PRECIOUS NYARKO BOAKYE, GOMOA
