Green Gold Farms, Ghana, has acquired over 10,000 hectares of land across the country to cultivate organic soya beans, cowpea and yellow maize to create job opportunities for the youth in the country.
The organization, which engages in mechanized farming, has employed over 500 youth to produce organic cereals in excess.
The farms are located at Akropong and Okrakojo in the Eastern Region and Zakpalsi and Sekpe in the Northern Region.
Speaking in an interview, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Green Gold Farms Ghana, Mr George Boakye Sarpong, envisioned a growing movement within the country to make agriculture a gateway to economic growth.
“My question has always been, in a country, where there is so much rich, fertile, arable land and abled bodies, why do we need to import so much food? Why can’t we produce it ourselves and create jobs?”
Mr George Boakye Sarpong, Green Gold Farms Ghana
The World Bank’s Senior Social Protection Specialist, Madam Christabel Dadzie, emphasized the country’s traditional challenges of youth and female unemployment. She stated that women had a difficult time finding work, citing the country’s high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment. As a result, she has called for government intervention.
Only about 2% of the over 250,000 young people who enter the job market each year find work in the formal sector. This, she claimed was nothing to write home about.
Moreover, she believes agriculture can play a significant role in addressing the country’s unemployment problem. She therefore cited the World Bank studies that show agribusiness has one of the highest job multipliers.
The Way Forward
Mr Kwame Marfo, the organization’s Chief Finance Officer, also revealed the company’s plans to use regenerative agriculture to boost sociological, political, and economic growth. He said the company would focus on improving soil health by avoiding mineral fertilizers and synthetic pesticides, among other things. Mr Marfo therefore urged farmers to cultivate on a large scale in order to increase their earnings.
Green Gold Farms Ltd. intends to leverage on Ghana’s geographically central location which places Ghana in a good place to serve as food basket to the West African sub-region. They seek to move 1 million Ghanaians out of poverty in remote areas and enhance sustainability.
GGF seeks to become a catalyst in Ghana’s agricultural development through large scale mechanization. In effect, they intend to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign food imports and creating local job. They also intend to empower local communities through training, education and profit sharing.
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