The Deputy Chief Executive of Agri Impact Group, Juliana Asante-Dartey, and her team have visited the National Service Scheme (NSS) Kumawu farm project.
The visit was to assess the progress of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) programme, a collaborative effort with the NSS aimed at creating employment opportunities for 326,000 young people.
The programme targets four key agricultural value chains, namely rice, soy, poultry and tomato.
Speaking during the visit, Juliana Asante-Dartey indicated that the NSS is responsible for creating 80,000 jobs by engaging national service personnel (NSP) and local community members across these value chains.
She noted that Kumawu serves as the hub for this initiative, which will expand to other national service locations and involve private sector partnerships. She mentioned the significant developments at the Kumawu site, considering the remarkable development since their last visit.
Poultry support
She revealed that “the last time we visited, NSS had cleared about 1,200 acres. Now, they’ve planted almost 300 acres of rice and allocated 300–400 acres for maize to support poultry. There has been progress”.
She added that land for tomato cultivation had been demarcated, with training for national service personnel. She said it is in collaboration with the Directorates of Crop Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture underway to provide technical support.
This, she believes, is a step in the right direction, but NSS must do more in order to meet its targets. She explained the importance of expanding the initiative beyond the cleared land to achieve the target of cultivating 3,000 hectares of tomatoes.
Doing so, she noted, would involve working closely with local farmers, extending efforts to other regions, and providing training on demonstration farms to enhance their skills and production capacities.
Satisfaction
She expressed satisfaction with the progress but called for increased efforts to meet the programme’s high targets. She underscored the role of private-sector partnerships in providing market access and technical skills to young entrepreneurs.
“This visit, alongside representatives from various companies, aims to explore the potential for establishing a breeding site as part of our private sector collaboration. The enthusiasm and commitment of the national service personnel are notable. I observe both male and female NSP actively participating in diverse farm activities, from spraying to operating tractors to plant maintenance,” she noted.
She encouraged the NSP to leverage the technology and training provided to become successful entrepreneurs in their respective value chains by way of knowledge transfer.
Opportunities
For his part, the Head of Business Development at NSS, who also serves as the Scheme’s Manager of the HAPPY programme, Gabriel Osei Junior, mentioned the various job opportunities the partnership had for the youth of this country, particularly those within Kumawu and its environs.
He called on the NSP at the farms to demonstrate a high level of diligence and operate the farms as though their very existence depended on it.
The Head of Africa Operations, Country Birds Holdings (CHB), South Africa, Jack Searle, reaffirmed his commitment to venture into commercial poultry farming in Kumawu.
He, however, cited the need for NSS and its partners to understand the weather conditions, electricity, and other important fundamental issues that are essential to infrastructure.
The delegation from NSS and Agri Impact Group interact during the inspection of the farm
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