Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Govt to engage agric graduates in extension services
THE government plans to begin the recruitment of first degree holders in agriculture and related fields on short-term trainings in extension services and then deploy them nationwide to help farmers improve yields and fight diseases, the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, has said.
He said this was as part of efforts to enhance agricultural production.
“We have decided, in consultation with the universities that all those who have done degrees in agriculture will be in a position to provide extension services to farmers,” he said at the GRAPHIC BUSINESS-Stanbic Bank Breakfast meeting series in Accra last Tuesday.
Mr Osafo Maafo spoke on the government’s plans of job creation through agriculture and industrialisation.
Financing agric
He assured that the government was going to create jobs with agriculture and industry and ,therefore, it was important to make funds available to support them although not free of charge.
“Agric cannot borrow at the rate commercial activity like someone selling cloth can borrow at 29 per cent. We need to look at agriculture with special eyes. Therefore, we need to access funds which are reasonably cheap to enable agric to also access funds,” he said.
He said the situation where everybody was moving to Accra for a job was dangerous to the system and that the country has to decentralise industrialisation as a way of creating jobs.
Participants’ concerns
Some participants at the meeting expressed concern about the high import of goods into the country.
“Why is it that we have opened ourselves so easily and quickly to certain imports? Ghanaian rice is polished but can’t be sold. We are now importing all sorts of furniture. What is happening? Can’t we stop these nuisance imports?” the Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Professor Kwame Boasiako Omane-Antwi, asked.
The senior minister said the government would use taxation to fight high and unnecessary imports.
Others contributors questioned how Ghana would get industry and agriculture thriving when most of such companies established in time past have collapsed.
A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey said Ghanaians needed to be more optimistic to correct the mistakes made over years.
“How do we strengthen them so they don’t collapse again? We must apply enough knowledge to things that we do. How do we introduce modern ways of farming when most of our farmers do not want to use improve seeds due to some myths? We need to research although theory is not everything but important,” he said. GB
Pull Quote
Agric cannot borrow at the rate commercial activity like someone selling cloth can borrow at 29 per cent. We need to look at agric with special eyes. Therefore, we need to access funds which are reasonably cheap to enable agric also to access funds.
He said this was as part of efforts to enhance agricultural production.
“We have decided, in consultation with the universities that all those who have done degrees in agriculture will be in a position to provide extension services to farmers,” he said at the GRAPHIC BUSINESS-Stanbic Bank Breakfast meeting series in Accra last Tuesday.
Mr Osafo Maafo spoke on the government’s plans of job creation through agriculture and industrialisation.
Financing agric
He assured that the government was going to create jobs with agriculture and industry and ,therefore, it was important to make funds available to support them although not free of charge.
“Agric cannot borrow at the rate commercial activity like someone selling cloth can borrow at 29 per cent. We need to look at agriculture with special eyes. Therefore, we need to access funds which are reasonably cheap to enable agric to also access funds,” he said.
He said the situation where everybody was moving to Accra for a job was dangerous to the system and that the country has to decentralise industrialisation as a way of creating jobs.
Participants’ concerns
Some participants at the meeting expressed concern about the high import of goods into the country.
“Why is it that we have opened ourselves so easily and quickly to certain imports? Ghanaian rice is polished but can’t be sold. We are now importing all sorts of furniture. What is happening? Can’t we stop these nuisance imports?” the Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Professor Kwame Boasiako Omane-Antwi, asked.
The senior minister said the government would use taxation to fight high and unnecessary imports.
Others contributors questioned how Ghana would get industry and agriculture thriving when most of such companies established in time past have collapsed.
A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey said Ghanaians needed to be more optimistic to correct the mistakes made over years.
“How do we strengthen them so they don’t collapse again? We must apply enough knowledge to things that we do. How do we introduce modern ways of farming when most of our farmers do not want to use improve seeds due to some myths? We need to research although theory is not everything but important,” he said. GB
Pull Quote
Agric cannot borrow at the rate commercial activity like someone selling cloth can borrow at 29 per cent. We need to look at agric with special eyes. Therefore, we need to access funds which are reasonably cheap to enable agric also to access funds.
USAID Global Health Corporate Champions Complete Service in Ghana
The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Health Corporate
Champions Program held its closeout ceremony today in Accra. The ceremony
celebrated the completion of a month of service in Ghana by 13 Global Health
Corporate Champions from around the world. U.S. Ambassador Robert P. Jackson
joined members of Ghanaian health organizations, the Ghanaian government, and
the private sector at the closeout ceremony, at which the Champions discussed
their service.
Through this
program, individual corporate champions are sponsored by their private-sector
employers to participate in a one-month pro bono consulting opportunity. These
Champions are accomplished professionals from American companies Dow Chemical,
PIMCO, and WE Communications, and German company SAP. Over the past month, the
13 Champions leveraged their business and operational expertise to build the
capacities of four Ghanaian public health organizations: the Ghana Coalition of
NGOs in the Water and Sanitation Sector, Hope for Future Generations, the Ghana
Registered Midwives Association, and the Nneka Youth Foundation.
“The Global Health
Corporate Champions program exemplifies the U.S. government’s approach to
development,” said Ambassador Jackson at the closing ceremony. “Partnerships are
central to everything we do, in Ghana and around the world. Our partnerships
have enabled us to make the best use of our resources, make the most out of
every dollar spent, and ensure development gains are sustainable. Most
importantly, our partnerships have enabled the people of Ghana to benefit from
the combined resources, know-how, and reach of this broad coalition,” he said.
USAID engages in a
number of partnerships with national and local government bodies, civil society,
and American and Ghanaian businesses to promote development in Ghana. For
example, it partners with the Coca-Cola Company to improve water and sanitation
access in Ghana, with Hershey’s to improve child nutrition, and with John Deere
to increase access of Ghanaian farmers to improved technologies.
About
USAID
USAID is the lead
U.S. government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable
resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. USAID supports Ghana
in increasing food security, improving basic health care, enhancing access to
quality basic education, and strengthening local governance to benefit all
Ghanaian people.
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