An amount of $25 million has been approved by parliament for Indian Exim facility to establish a tractor assembly plant and fabrication of agricultural implements in Ghana.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and MP for Ejisu, John Ampomtuah Kumah revealed this during the maiden edition of the ‘Ghana Youth Agriculture summit’ geared at empowering the youth in food production in Kumasi.
According to him, the establishment of the Assembly plant by the government will promote agriculture mechanization in commercial farming. This move will replace traditional tools such as cutlasses and hoes and embrace the use of modernized machinery, equipment and farm implements. This will also act as value addition in the establishment of smallholder factories to process and add value to agriculture produce in Ghana.
He cited that Ghana has huge potential to become a prosperous agricultural nation with our arable land and human resources. He encouraged the youth to see the prospects in agriculture and help position Ghana as the next global food hub.
The Summit was on the theme: “Agriculture – A Solution to Youth Unemployment and Driver for Economic Development” was organized in collaboration with the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP).
The youth were encouraged to appreciate the agricultural value chain and the opportunities within, in order to break away from the non-existing white-collar jobs.