Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has said that the agriculture sector holds the key to unlock the massive unemployment among the youth.
The job opportunities in the agriculture sector, according to Dr. Afriyie Akoto, are enormous including industrialisation, agro processing, advertising among others, insisting that when proper investment is made, it will change the fortunes of Ghana.
“My vision is really targeted at the youth. To have an impact on the youth is to create job opportunities for them,” he noted.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto made this observation at a Town Hall Meeting organised by NPP, Canada branch, via zoom to interact with the party faithful on his vision when given the nod.
He was responding to a question posed by one Felix Brown on what could be the fate of the NPP youth under his leadership.
The former Minister of Food and Agriculture said the approach to addressing the myriads of unemployment issues confronting the youth has to do with pragmatic policies, assuring that under his leadership, he will put in place policies that are geared towards prioritising investment into the agriculture sector.
“Everywhere I go, you see these young people thanking me for giving them opportunities to venture into agriculture. It is very gratifying to note that the opportunities are changing lives, especially, when you go to the northern parts of the country,” he noted.
Motivated by results that he got from the Planting for Food and Jobs policy, Dr. Afriyie Akoto strongly proposed that under his leadership as President of Ghana, he will set up an Agriculture Management Team.
This team, he added, will consist of seven notable ministries that are all related to agriculture, including the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Ministry of Roads and Highways, and Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
“They will form a standby committee to ensure that enough public resources are located to ensure the transformation of agriculture which holds the key to creating more job opportunities to turn around our economic fortunes,” he noted.
Despite achieving success in the portfolio he handled, Dr. Afriyie Akoto revealed that one of his biggest disappointments was to see the declining fortunes of the poultry industry.
The biggest challenge confronting the poultry industry, he noted, had to do with international trade, which he has little control over.
“I know the challenge the poultry farmers have gone through over the years to the extent that prices of poultry feed have more than doubled in some cases,” he added.
A Daily Guide Report