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Walewale, Ghana – A declining interest in farming activities amongst young men and women in the West Mamprusi Municipality in the North East Region of Ghana has become a cause for concern for various stakeholders.
These stakeholders, who include civil society organisations, traditional leaders, women and youth groups, are alarmed that if the increasing trend of young people disinterest in farming was not reversed, could spike unemployment, food insecurity and above all regional instability.
The stakeholders have also observed that, the declining interest of the youth in farming activities as a business was worrying and could make the North East Region volatile and particularly the youth, susceptible to violent extremism.
In view of this, Walewale based Centre for Ecological Agriculture and Livelihood (CEAL-Ghana), non-profit organization, on Monday held a multi-stakeholder workshop to design strategies that could help bring an end to the phenomenon of young people not showing much interest in farming in recent times.
The workshop, which was held in Walewale in the West Mamprusi Municipal capital, also sought to discuss how to inspire and support the youth to effectively participate in agribusiness so as to achieve sustainable job creation and peace and security in the West Mamprusi area.
The workshop was organized as part of the ongoing implementation of CEAL-Ghanas “Make Agriculture Work For The Youth” (MAW4Y) project.
The Make Agriculture Work For The Youth project initiative was being supported by Canada Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI).
According to Executive Director of CEAL-Ghana, Issifu Sulemana Jobila, the workshop was also organized on the fact that, “if the youth including both young women and men are inspired and supported into farming and agribusiness, jobs will be created.”
The youth will be engaged, food and income security will improve tremendously and that would lead to conflicts prevention and building sustainable peace in the region, he emphasized.
At the end of the one-day workshop, the stakeholders identified key challenges and solutions that would facilitate and improve youth participation in farming activities and agribusiness in the West Mamprusi area and for that matter the North East Region.
The stakeholders also discussed and came out with an advocacy strategy and messages to target the general public particularly the youth, state institutions, traditional authorities, communities, development partners and other stakeholders in the region.
The stakeholders workshop also created a platform for participants especially enterprising youth like Miss Sadia and Mr. Aziz who are farmers, to share information and experiences to motivate others to see the benefits farming present.
Meanwhile, a thirty (30) member committee was put in place to implement the advocacy strategy so as to encourage more young people to go back into farming in the region. The ultimate goal is to see peace and security triumph over unemployment and violent extremism amongst the youth.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Kusiele Ziem
