The 2022 National Best Farmer, Nana Yaw Sarpong Siriboe has asserted that agriculture is the only way that can help Ghana recover from the dire economic downturn.
He was speaking at the Akuafo Agrifest, a festival organized by the Akuafo Hall in the University of Ghana themed, ‘Resilience, Technology and Humanism.’ He highlighted that, the country is blessed with fertile soil and when utilized can be of great benefit to the nation’s economy.
“Our country is facing some serious crisis and I believe it is only agriculture that can change the fortune of this country. We have fertile soil and a lot of things that promote good agriculture,” he expressed.
The 2022 National Best Farmer also remarked on how about 60% of farmers are aged, emphasizing little youth presence in the sector. He subsequently encouraged the youth to engage in agriculture as a cause to generate wealth; he clarified that agriculture was not just a means of income for the poor and illiterate.
Mr. Siriboe also advised the youth to channel time wasted on social media into acquiring knowledge on agriculture.
“A paper by the UN on challenges for youth in agriculture identifies the principal challenge as insufficient access to knowledge, education and information, and that is why I want to employ the youth of this country to make good use of their phones. You have access to TikTok, Facebook and a lot of things. The government is doing a lot of things to promote youth in agriculture but most of you don’t know because you do not have access to information.”
He encouraged the youth to stop worrying about the risks involved in agriculture, pressing them to venture into the field.
Mr. Sarpong Siriboe also called on the government to set policies in agriculture that will benefit farmers in terms of their economical situations.
“The government is putting in a lot of measures, the planting for food and jobs 2.0 is tackling a lot of climate issues and it is also tackling the challenges faced by the youth in agriculture. But there is a lot to do by the government, the government has to be very critical on agriculture as a policy.”
He also clarified that, the outdated method of cutlass farming has evolved, hence farmers should adopt to the use of machineries and pest resistant seeds in their work.
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Story by: Dzifa Joseph and George Dwumfour Boateng | univers.ug.edu.gh
