Professor Ben K. Ahunu, Provost of the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon has said that the main objective of agricultural institutions was to teach, motivate and encourage the youth to go into farming as a commercial and useful venture and not as a last resort in their socio-economic development.
He said this was because the future of society depended largely on the youth of today.
Prof. Ahunu said this when addressing 63 graduands at the 18th annual graduation ceremony of the Levents Foundation Farmers' Training Programme at the University of Ghana Agricultural Research Centre, Legon, at Nmaidzo near Ashalley-Botwe in the Greater Accra Region.
He expressed appreciation to the Levents Foundation London for their unflinching and continued support to the programme and for increasing the sponsorship this year.
Prof Ahunu advised the graduands, who received in-depth training in both livestock and crop farming that, their certificates were to testify that they had fully participated in the training programme and that they were capable of running their own farms.
He also urged them to go into agriculture to produce to feed the nation and at the same time share their expertise and knowledge acquired with the local farmers in their various communities.
Dr Francis Ofori, Director of the University of Ghana Agricultural Research Centres at Kade, Kpong and Legon who chaired the function, advised the graduands to serve as ambassadors of the programme and contribute immensely to move the country forward.
He said even though funding had been a major problem in the agricultural sector, they should strive hard to give of their best to help the nation.
Dr Ofori advised the graduands to form associations and to appeal to individuals, organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for financial support.
He however, implored them to pay back any loans that would be advanced to them to enable them to get financial support at all times.
He commended two past students of the programme, who received awards at the recent district level Farmers' Day ceremony while urging the current graduands to also work hard to be award winners in subsequent years.
Mr Emmanuel Budu-Biney, Co-ordinator of the Programme said the programme which is a joint project sponsored by Levents Foundation, London and implemented by the Institute of Agricultural Research of University of Ghana, which started with 13 participants have trained over 600 farmers since it was established in 1990.
He said the course, which is a 10-month annual farmer-training programme, is fully sponsored at no cost to the farmers, that is tuition; feeding and accommodation are all free of charge.
The graduands received various sums of money and also took home prizes and certificates of honour as well as farm inputs.
Special prizes were also given to five outstanding graduands.
The overall best trainee was Mr. Samuel Bortey who received a pair of Wellington boots, a spraying machine, a watering can and a book on farm management.
The most hard working trainee was Mr Mohammed Alhassan who had a book on farm management, a spraying machine and a watering can, whiles Mr Isaac Darko was adjudged the most disciplined trainee; he also had the same items.
The best female trainee was Habibata Mohammed Adu; she took home spraying machine, a pair of Wellington boots and watering can, whiles Jennifer Archiaa Kwakye was the most hard working female trainee; she had a book on maize, a spraying machine and a pair of Wellington boots.