The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Eric Opoku, has cautioned that rising youth unemployment remains one of the gravest threats to Ghana’s future stability and development.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day Food, Agriculture, Technology and Sustainability Conference at the Ho Technical University, he said the scale of joblessness among young people required urgent national action.
Citing World Bank data, Mr Opoku noted that more than 500,000 young Ghanaians enter the labour market every year, competing for limited job opportunities.
Across the continent, he added, Africa produces 12 million new job seekers annually, but only three million secure employment.
“In effect, every year Africa produces nine million unemployed graduates, able, educated and willing youth who cannot find work. This is a serious danger ahead of us,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that agriculture remained Africa’s greatest untapped economic resource.
Although the continent holds about 60 percent of the world’s arable land, it utilises less than 10 percent of its agricultural potential, he noted, describing this as a vast opportunity to generate decent and sustainable jobs.
Mr Opoku said the recent decline in food inflation was evidence of President John Mahama’s commitment to revitalising agriculture and placing the sector at the centre of economic transformation.
He highlighted the government’s Feed Ghana initiative, designed to boost food self-sufficiency and strengthen the link between agriculture and industry.
“We are no longer limiting agriculture to raw production. We are focusing on the entire value chain, processing, manufacturing and agro-industrial expansion.
This is how we will create jobs, reduce the food import bill and make Ghana’s agriculture globally competitive,” he said.
He announced several interventions to enhance agricultural productivity, including the establishment of a national agricultural research fund, strengthened soil management and testing systems, and improved seed and fertiliser quality assurance aimed at building local capacity and achieving seed independence.
The Minister also stressed the importance of transitioning from rain-fed farming to irrigation-based production.
He said €47 million from the European Union was being invested solely in irrigation development, alongside more than GH¢800 million committed to repairing farm roads to ease food transportation and curb price volatility.
Mr Opoku urged young people to embrace agriculture as a viable and profitable career, calling for a collective national effort to support government strategies for food security and job creation.
The maiden conference brought together researchers, academics, policymakers and industry players from Ghana and abroad to discuss innovations and solutions for strengthening food systems and the agricultural value chain.
