1Abdul-Halim Abubakari, 2M.R. McDonald, 2D. Ceplis, 1K.G. Mahunu, 2J. Owen, 1I.A. Idun, 1P. Kumah, 2M. Pritchard, 1G. Nyarko and 1F. Appiah

1Ghana Institute of Horticulturists, 2Canadian Society for Horticultural Science

FOSTERING SUSTAINABLE ENGAGEMENT OF THE YOUTH IN THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR:

Opportunities and challenges for youth employment in Ghana

Outline of presentation

Background, demography of youth and the agri-food sector

Ghana Institute of Horticulturists (GhIH) project on youth training and mentoring in the agri-food sector

Lessons and opportunities for the engagement of the youth in the agri-food sector

In a country of 25.2 million, youth, aged 15 to 35 years, comprise 33% of Ghana’s population {Ghana Living Standards Survey; (GLSS, 2008)}.

56% of Ghana’s work force is engaged in agriculture, mostly as small-holders. Many are youth, rural or peri-urban and who have no formal education

Of the 227,533 square kilometres of land in Ghana, 17.5% are arable lands while 9.2% are in permanent crops. (CIA 2012)

INTRODUCTION

The youth and agriculture in Ghana

The agri-food sector

The agri-food sector in Ghana consists of three main groups of producers.

Large group of small-holder primary producers

Small group of semi-skilled and medium-scale farmers

Large scale producers (Companies or individual)

Education, skills training and access to funds are critical in supporting young farmers to move beyond primary level

Since 2001, the Ghana Institute of Horticulturists (GhIH) has supported two key groups of youth in Ghana:

Young rural small scale vegetable producers in the Upper West Region (UWR)

Students enrolled in post-secondary institutions offering horticultural studies

Baseline studies in 2000 showed the need for intervention

The GhIH project

GhIH Project “Reach”

Dry season gardening project

GhIH Northern Zone

GhIH Middle Zone

GhIH South-Eastern ZoneGhIH South-

Western Zone

GhIH Northern Zone

GhIH Northern Zone

GhIH Middle Zone

GhIH Eastern Zone

South-Eastern Zone

GhIH South-Western Zone

GhIH Project sites in the Upper West Region

Objectives of the projectImproving household income and food security through increase production and marketing of vegetables.

Building farmers’ capacity to implement successful environmental practices.

Engaging the youth and women farmers as active participants and beneficiaries of horticultural interventions

Strengthening GhIH to impact positively on the national regulatory framework on horticultural development in Ghana

This paper discusses the methodologies and results achieved by GhIH in skills training and youth mentoring

GhIH trains young farmers on the principles of horticulture and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) using Farmer Field Schools (FFS), Training of Trainers (ToT), and on-farm demonstrations.

GhIH mentor young horticultural professionals through networking, conferences, communication and professional exchanges

GhIH partners with the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science (CSHS), through the Support of Agriculture Institute of Canada (AIC), via CIDA (support ended in 2011)

Survey of farmers provided data for this presentation

METHODOLOGY

GhIH trains young rural farmers on the principles of horticultural production

Farmers and students learn the principles of entrepreneurship and value chain development

Location Direct beneficiaries Indirect beneficiaries

District Village Name of group No. males No. females Total

no.

Total no.

Wa East Busa

Behii

Busa Water User’s Association

Behii Water User’s Association

25

6

33

3

58

9

200

70

Wa Siiru Siiru Water User’s Association - - - 70

Lawra Babile

Nandom

Babile Water User’s Association

Nandom Water User’s Association

18

7

5

5

23

12

70

50

Karni Karni

Piina

Karni Water User’s Association

Piina Water User’s Association

7

4

20

1

27

5

133

83

Total 67 67 134 676

Table 1. Profile of youth beneficiaries of GhIH project

RESULTS

Source: GhIH survey, 2010

Major crop

Gender

Male Female Total %

Amaranthus sp (Alefu) 0 1 2

Phaseolus vulgaris (Bean leaves) 0 1 2

Brassica oleracea var capitata (Cabbage) 1 0 2

Solanum melongena (White eggplant) 0 1 2

Capsicum spp (Sweet Green Pepper) 1 0 2

Arachis hypogaea (Groundnut) 1 1 4

Zea mays (Maize) 1 0 2

Pennisetum glaucum (Millet) 0 1 2

Abelmoscus esculentus (Okro) 2 5 14

Allium cepa (Onion) 1 4 10

Onion intercropped with Okro 0 1 2

Capsicum annum (Hot pepper) 6 1 14

Lycopersicum esculentum (Tomato) 15 6 42

Total 28 22 100

Table 2. Main crops grown by youth in GhIH project communities

Source: GhIH survey, 2010

Impact of GhIH project on farmers No. male No. female Percentage

Food and nutrition security 11 4 10

Income, employment & livelihood54 61 77

Environment 3 0 2

Rural community development 6 1 4.5

No response 3 7 6.5

Total 77 73 100

Table 3. Impact of the GhIH project on nutrition, employment and rural development

Source: GhIH survey, 2010

Table 4. Income levels young farmer trainees resulting from increased vegetable production

About 1/3 of the farmers have per capita income above the national average. See table 5

Majority of the young farmers have per capita income equivalent or little higher than the regional average. See Table 5

Gender Income level (Ghana Cedis)

No income 1-100 101-500 501-1000 1001-2000

Male 2 2 30 18 4

Female 0 6 26 10 2

Total 2 8 56 28 6

Source: GhIH survey, 2010

Regional average per capita income

Table 5. Mean annual per capita household income in Ghana, GLSS, 2008

National average per capita income

Region Mean annual household

income (Ghana Cedis)

Mean annual per capita

income (Ghana Cedis)

Western 1,222 393

Central 1,310 464

Greater Accra 1,529 544

Volta 913 272

Eastern 1,145 379

Ashanti 1,149 410

Brong Ahafo 1,202 443

Northern 1,452 296

Upper East 616 124

Upper West 606 106

Ghana 1,217 397

Source: GLSS, 2010

Challenges facing farmers No. male No. female Percentage

Access to agricultural inputs, 10 8

12.0

Start up funds and market8 6

9.3

Environment & water management12 4

10.7

Investment in time, skills and effort30 30

40.0

No major problem 9 13

14.7

No response7 13

13.3

Total 76 74 100

Table 6. Challenges facing young rural farmers in the GhIH project

Source: GhIH survey, 2010

Agricultural item Estimated no. of households

processing items in the last 12 months

Estimated value of sales (Gh cedis)

Cassava flour 58,510 50,000Cooking oil 82,249 130,000Flour from other grains 15,926 30,000Gari 20,804 100,000Groundnut paste 10,270 10,000Home brewed drink 32,448 30,000Husked/polished rice 4,984 No dataMaize flour 283,008 320,000Processed fish 76,617 290,000Processed meat 2,905 10,000Shea butter 7,938 10,000Cassava dough 76,416 70,000Corn dough 9,582 20,000Others (e.g. Vegetables*) 1,244 No dataAll 682,901 1,050,000

Table 8. Income estimates for household processing their own food (GLSS, 2008)

Source: GLSS, 2008

Opportunities for youth employment in the agri-food sector

Increasing domestic demand for safe and nutrition food as a result of increasing awareness created by NGO’s in the agri-food sector

Increasing demand in the international market for non-traditional agriculture commodities such as pepper and shea butter

Continue national and donor support for capacity building in value addition and enterprise training

Building on viable farmer groups with strong involvement of the youth results in better adoption of GAP

Training on GAP and Value addition can increase market access

Intervention linked to Universities in Ghana have proven to be cost effective and more sustainable

Strong partnership with the MoFA and community leaders is critical for project sustainability

Financing of innovative youth enterprises is the biggest challenge constraining sustainable employment of the youth in the sector

Lessons from GhIH project for the implementation of national youth policy in the agri-food sector

Fostering engagement of the youth in the agri-food sector requires comprehensive and long term agricultural interventions through:

Using PTD methods to work directly with the beneficiaries, and partnering with MoFA, other government departments, and community leaders

Support of public Universities and research institutions

Harmonising NGO’s interventions with national youth policies

Improved agricultural finance is central to youth engagement

The strategies, opportunities and challenges presented above need to be considered in implementing policies for sustaining the employment of the youth in the agri-food sector.

CONCLUSION

Thanks for your

attention