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The National Service Authority (NSA) is collaborating with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to establish ranches nationwide to revolutionise livestock farming.
"These ranches, we hope, will improve cattle production, create new job opportunities and stabilise Ghana's meat and dairy industries," the NSA Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, revealed last Tuesday.
Mr Antwi disclosed this at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC) at Gomoa Fetteh, near Kasoa, in the Central Region during a two-day orientation for the second cohort of its ‘Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY)’ programme.
About 500 young graduates from the country's tertiary institutions converged to go through the rudiments of agribusiness.
They are expected to be dispatched to the various enclaves, including Sekyere Kumawu, to be guided by experts from Agri-Impact Limited, a leading agriculture business firm, for action.
The HAPPY programme is being executed by partners including, Newage, Agric Solutions, National Service Authority (NSA), Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) programme, Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Technoserve, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Jobberman.
Agriculture is one of the cardinal pillars of the HAPPY initiative, which also intends to nurture entrepreneurship among young graduates, empowering them to shape their futures.
Mr Antwi said it would contribute to an increase in food and nutrition security, help in rural and urban economic growth, as well as optimise the productivity of public and private sector investment and resources.
The initiative adds to young graduates in entrepreneurship, teaching, ICT and other similar forward-thinking programmes.
"These pillars, which serve as the foundation of our strategies, are far more than traditional career pathways; they are the engines of job creation, innovation and national prosperity," he told the expectant graduates.
"Ghana’s agricultural sector is brimming with untapped potential, and the HAPPY Programme aims to unlock it. As newly posted National Service personnel, some of you will find yourselves working on arable lands in rural and peri-urban areas.
This is not just farming — it is nation-building. Cultivating these lands will boost food security, create jobs and drive economic growth," he said.
The Director-General appealed to the Ministry of Local Government to support the programme by releasing the recently deployed District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment for use during the farming seasons.
The tools, he said, were essential for cultivating large-scale arable lands, and their timely release would enable the authority to achieve exponential growth in its agricultural initiatives.
He said the project was to build the capacities of 46,490 graduate youth to cultivate 20,000 hectares of land and make jobs available for 81,980 youth in agribusiness.
He said by forging strong partnerships with the housing and construction sectors and advancing agricultural mechanisation, "we open doors to skills development and business creation”.
"We understand the road to entrepreneurship can be daunting, so we build robust support systems. These include mentorship programmes, access to funding, and collaboration with private-sector players," he said.
Mr Antwi further announced that as an addendum, the NSA had established a relationship with Alliance Francaise to assist national service persons who wished to study the French language for free to enhance their chances of getting other jobs, especially when Ghana is surrounded by francophone countries.
The Project Lead, NSA, Gabriel Osei Jnr, estimated that the project could save Ghana at least $2 billion a year from the importation of the targeted food crops.
He said the project had the potential of cutting down graduate employment by half.
The poultry and enterprise coordinator of the HAPPY project and Agric-Impact Limited, Prince Manu Yeboah, said at the end of the service, personnel who wished to become self-reliant would be assisted with the acquisition of land, planting materials and little supervision to begin their own agribusiness.
If successful, portions of the farm produce would be used to offset the "capital" and allow the person to manage the farm.
Mr Yeboah said beyond farming, those who wanted to venture into other aspects of the agriculture value chain business would also be supported to be on their own.
Background
The HAPPY programme is expected to create more than 320,000 dignified and fulfilling jobs for the youth, 70 per cent of which are reserved for women and persons with disability.
The project is estimated to increase food production by 190,000 tonnes, generate annual revenue of over $200 million and increase agricultural productivity in rice, soyabean, tomato and the poultry value chains to reduce import of strategic food by 10 per cent.
The partnership with Agri-Impact is under the ambit of MasterCard Foundation.
