The National Service Scheme (NSS) has acquired 20,000 acres of farmland in the Kumawu area of the Ashanti Region for a commercial farming estate.
Known as Kumawu Youth Farm, the project will start with the cultivation of maize, rice and soya this year.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the NSS Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, revealed that “This is going to be our biggest farming enclave, one of an end-to-end nature, which starts from production to processing in the long term.”
According to Mr. Antwi, the NSS has switched its strategic focus from “Mobilization for Deployment” to “Deployment for Employment,” with the goal of provide the enabling environment for all personnel to acquire the relevant skills that could meet industrial demand.
Under it, graduates are to embrace entrepreneurship by locating promising economic sectors where they can explore their potential.
The Job Platform, SME Accounting Aid Programme, Teaching Programme, IT Solution Programme, Communication Project, and the Youth in Housing Project are a few of the activities under the new strategic direction.
Abraham Dwuma Odoom, a former Member of Parliament for Twifo-Atti-Morkwa and advisor on policy, has been engaged by the NSS as a consultant for the Kumawu project.
The NSS already has 14 farms throughout the nation where it primarily grows maize.