Govt Will Make Agric Attractive to Youth – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said government will do its best to make agriculture attractive to the youth.

“Every effort is being made to make agriculture attractive to the teeming youth especially unemployed graduates,” he said.

Dr Bawumia was speaking at the opening ceremony of an eight-day agricultural show organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in Kumasi on Friday, November 24, 2017.

The show was organised to prepare grounds for the upcoming Farmers’ Day celebration which will be held in Kumasi.

Speaking on the theme: “Farming for food and jobs”, he said President Akufo-Addo has a vision to mobilise and transform the agriculture sector in other to expand opportunities for job creation and provide the basis for agro-production industries.

He, therefore, assured that government policies and strategies have prioritised agriculture development and will do everything possible to meet the needs of the sector.

“Indeed, holistic and comprehensive agriculture transformation programmes, technical issues such as financing and technical support are receiving serious attention with assistance of our development partners to facilitate and sustain interest in agriculture,” he noted.

Dr Bawumia indicated that the 2018 Budget also proposes the abolition of duties on some agriculture produce processing equipment and machinery, pushing up of investment in agriculture, support of development of agro-businesses start-ups through grants, establishment of GHS400milllion fund towards agriculture financing and crop insurance schemes, technical assistance and tax incentives toward support of agro-processing packaging and marketing access, development of modern storage facilities through the One-District-One-Warehouse programme among others to make the agriculture sector attractive and interesting.

For him, even though the challenges are enormous, “there is nothing determined people cannot do” and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will pursue the agenda to achieve success.

He, therefore, called on Ghanaians to take interest in opportunities and offer to help revolutionalise the nation’s agriculture and make it a shining example to the world.

He said some countries like Japan, Brazil among others who have advanced in agriculture are there to inspire the nation.

Dr Bawumia expressed hope that the nation is on a right path and will succeed in making the nation’s agriculture successful.

Source: ClassFMonline