In a move to tackle youth unemployment and enhance national food security, the Government has unveiled plans to recruit over 100,000 post-national service personnel into sustainable agriculture and cocoa enterprise initiatives across the country.
The initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is expected to provide young Ghanaians with access to micro grants, input supplies, technical support, and land banks to form co-operatives and engage in cluster farming nationwide.
Addressing Parliament on Friday, Minister George Opare Addo explained that the government, through the National Service Authority, had already secured 20,000 acres of farmland in Kumawu and was in the process of acquiring an additional 30,000 acres for the programme.
Beneficiaries will also be mentored by experienced cocoa farmers and supported by key stakeholders including the World Food Programme, Ghana Enterprises Agency, Tree Crop Development Authority, and the MasterCard Foundation. They will receive training and assistance to venture into cocoa cultivation, livestock rearing, and other agribusiness enterprises.
The long-term goal, the Minister noted, is to make the initiative financially sustainable, with participants expected to repay the initial support once their farms and businesses become viable.
If effectively implemented, experts believe this initiative could spark a boom in Ghana’s agriculture sector, significantly boost local food production, strengthen rural economies, and contribute meaningfully to the country’s food security agenda.
The programme is also expected to help reverse the decline in cocoa output and reintroduce the youth to agriculture as a commercially viable and impactful career path.
Government says it is committed to ensuring that this new generation of agri-entrepreneurs is properly equipped, supported, and empowered to lead Ghana into a more food-secure and agriculturally resilient future.
Often viewed as the quiet backbone of the economy, the sector emerged as the fastest-growing in the latest GDP report, registering an impressive 6.6 percent year-on-year growth. At a time when other sectors delivered mixed results, farming and fisheries quietly carried the weight of national progress.
