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Mr James Obeng Boateng, the 2018 National Best Farmer, at the weekend, called on the government to provide seed funding for the unemployed youth to engage in commercial farming.
He said agriculture remained profitable, but until the sector was made attractive, the youth would not be enticed to take advantage of the country’s vast and arable land and engage in farming.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Nyinase in the Nkoranza South Municipality of the Bono East Region, Mr Boateng, the Managing Director of the Kwafre Farms said it was untrue farming was reserved for the poor, but a profitable venture.
He said commercial farming remained expensive in the country, and it would be difficult for the youth to engage in that without funding support.
More so, Mr Boateng said agriculture inputs ought to be made affordable to enable farmers to expand their farms, produce more and enhance national food security.
He underlined the importance for the nation to showcase and celebrate the nation’s successful entrepreneurs in agriculture, saying that would motivate the youth a lot to capitalise on the huge economic prospects and engage in agriculture productivity.
Mr Boateng has been farming for more than 18 years, and now has a workforce of about 102, comprising 45 full-time employees and 57 casual workers.
He is highly diversified in his agricultural production, covering roots and tubers, cereals, vegetables and legumes as well as large numbers of ruminants, including cattle, goat, sheep and poultry.
Mr Boateng said he has 500 acres of mango, 200 acres of cashew, 100 acres of oil palm, 11,000 snails, several fish pounds with 10,000 tilapia and catfishes.
In addition, he is also into bee production, with several beehives colonised with bees in the farm which covered about 3,000 acres of land.