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The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana has commemorated this year’s International Youth Day with a special focus on agribusiness and how to make it attractive to the youth.
The event, held at the premises of the embassy last Wednesday, brought together young entrepreneurs, businesses, financial institutions and other stakeholders. Some of the young agribusiness entrepreneurs shared their experiences and showcased their products, while representatives of financial institutions briefed participants on the financing opportunities available to those in the agricultural sector.
The Charge d’Affaires of the embassy, Wendy van Meel, eulogised young Ghanaians, pointing out that they were shaping the future today.
“They are building businesses, introducing new technologies, creating employment opportunities and developing solutions to challenges across the food system,” she said.
She said her country remained committed to working with Ghana to strengthen agricultural value chains that created economic opportunities, improved food security and supported sustainable growth, while ensuring that young people were not only participants in the transformation but also its leaders.
She expressed her country’s willingness to help create an enabling environment for young people to engage in cocoa production, explaining that although they acknowledged the sector’s negative image, they were developing a media programme targeting the youth.
The programme would highlight the positive aspects of the cocoa sector, best practices among young cocoa farmers and opportunities available to young people.
August 12 each year is commemorated globally as International Youth Day to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing young people around the world and celebrate their role as essential partners in achieving sustainable development.
Touching on Ghana’s relationship with the Netherlands, Ms van Meel said agriculture remained at the heart of the partnership, with a strong focus on the cocoa and horticultural sectors.
Those sectors, she explained, were important not only because of their economic value but also because they contributed to livelihoods, food security and opportunities for business in both Ghana and the Netherlands.
She said the Netherlands had been engaged for many years to support Ghana to produce healthy fruits and vegetables, strengthen domestic supply chains and build a competitive sector that generated employment and investment opportunities.
The Head of Economic Affairs at the embassy, Dr Rens Twijnstra, said the world was experiencing an era of population growth, a rising youth population and increasing urbanisation, making it imperative for the two countries to motivate young people to help take the cocoa and horticulture sectors to a new level.
He said the Netherlands saw significant opportunities for collaboration with Ghana in the two sectors.
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Setor Dumelo, encouraged the youth to get into agriculture, adding that the ministry had a lot of support for them in that area, especially inputs such as fertilisers, seeds and technical advice.
“Whenever the youth are ready, they should just come. But the most important thing is at least they should have started something for us to come and see on the farm - some vegetables or maize growing or whatever you are planting and then we'll be able to help you,” he said.
He acknowledged that though it was slower to make money in agriculture, once they started to get the returns, it was something very good, advising that they should not be in a hurry to make money.
