The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized a 3-week capacity building workshop for staff from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in project planning, policy cycle and policy planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and policy analysis. The workshop was held at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER)-University of Ghana from April 18-May 24 2017.… Read more →
In a recent meeting at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana, we were presented with the designated Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto’s plans for what the new government is going to offer its farmers: Planting for Food and Jobs, a Campaign for Rapid Growth. The plan makes grand claims to promote growth in food production and create 750,000… Read more →
The promotion of education, training and decent work to address the increasing unemployment among Ghanaian youth is very much on the radar of development agencies, the Government of Ghana and educational institutions. Relevant training and employment needs and opportunities, which can improve on, and off-farm income generation for young women and men is essential to addressing the knowledge and skills… Read more →
Financing solutions tailored to specific parts of the value chain are vital to improve farmers’ access to finance. Warehouse receipt financing provides one such tool. It enables the post-harvest part of the chain to work more efficiently, while farmers who can access warehouse receipt finance have more flexibility in the timing of their sales. Farmers in Ghana face significant obstacles… Read more →
Government of Ghana in pursuance of its investment in the youth launched the National Youth Policy in August 2010 on the theme, “Towards an Empowered Youth, Impacting positively on national development.’’ A lot of significant milestones including the ratification of the African Youth Charter as well as the acceptance of the incorporation of a ‘’youth clause’’ into the national constitution… Read more →
Reducing the challenges for youth especially young women farmers will require a need for further investment in the agriculture sector to allow them to take advantage of the new and emerging market structures and to have access to the latest in agricultural technology and livestock production systems. Women are the most important actors in the agricultural value chain which begins… Read more →
Agricultural value chain refers to all the steps that a product takes, from its point of origin to the consumer. Improving conditions along the whole chain stimulates the youth to become entrepreneurial and develop consistent income streams. Agricultural value chain development is about linking farmers to people who can process, package, market and eventually buy the food they produce. Establishing… Read more →
Climate change poses drastic risks to every facet of our lives, from diminishing water availability, higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and more frequent extreme weather events. Populations in the developing world, which are already vulnerable and food insecure, are likely to be the most seriously affected by the impacts of climate change. Nearly half of… Read more →
Gender is an important dimension of poverty in Ghana where over 51% of the population are women with a gender inequality index value of 0.59 as at 2011. Discussions on job creation options in agriculture for the youth thus need a gender-sensitive approach so no one is marginalised and the expected impact is realised. During recent focus group discussions (FGD)… Read more →
Ghana needs a Youth in Agriculture fund to serve as an incentive to clear the bottlenecks by access to finance of the youth who wish to go into agriculture. The fund can be supported through additional taxes on all food imports that can be produced in Ghana. This and other recommendations, including developing a land policy/land bank system so that Ghanaian… Read more →