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The President of the All Nations University, Reverend Dr Samuel Donkor, has expressed concern over Ghana’s continued reliance on food imports despite its abundance of fertile land.
“Why should we be importing food when we sit on arable lands? We should be feeding the rest of the world,” Reverend Dr Donkor asked.
Speaking during the university’s matriculation ceremony on Saturday in Koforidua, he emphasised the urgent need to rethink national priorities on agriculture.
He said “it is a shame that we import food from China and Dubai because we are not taking agriculture seriously.”
In a move to address this issue, he announced plans to introduce a new university programme in food technology and agribusiness.
According to Reverend Dr Donkor, the course was designed to shift the mindset of young people and rekindle interest in agriculture as a viable and lucrative career path.
“We want to teach young people to love agribusiness. There lies the prosperity of the country,” he stated, highlighting the need for a new generation of entrepreneurs who see value in agricultural production and food processing.
The matriculation ceremony saw 739 new students officially welcomed into the university community.
Of these, 509 were females and 230 were males.
In terms of academic distribution, 553 students were enrolled in the School of Humanities and Allied Health Sciences, 122 students in the School of Business, 52 in the School of Engineering, and 12 in the School of Humanities.
The president also shared broader plans for health education in the region.
He revealed that the construction of the new Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua would play a key role in the future training of medical students and nurses of the university as the university has started a programme in medicine.
The hospital when completed, he said, would complement academic instruction and offer students vital practical experience in healthcare delivery.
He said the introduction of the food technology and agribusiness programme, alongside future developments in medical training, signals All Nations University’s growing commitment to addressing national challenges through education.
Reverend Dr Donkor called for a shift towards agriculture and healthcare education, adding that the call reflected the institution’s broader vision of national development driven by self-reliance and innovation.
