Land banks needed to attract youth into Agriculture – Fairtrade youth ambassador

 By Elizabeth PUNSU, Kumasi

The Fairtrade International Youth Ambassador has called for the establishment of land banks to make agriculture more accessible and attractive to young people.

According to Felix Tetteh, one of the major challenges facing young people in agriculture is access to land – stressing that government could introduce initiatives to allocate land specifically to the youth through a system he referred to as a ‘land banks’.

“Land has been one of the challenges for young people. Buying land to start a farming businesses is no mean feat these days – it is very expensive. At Suhum in the Eastern Region, for instance, farmland goes for about GH?20,000 per acre. If government makes land readily available to young people, it will encourage them to go into farming,” he explained.

Beyond access to land, the ambassador also urged government and stakeholders to provide financial support in the form of grants and soft loans to young farmers, given the long-term nature of agricultural investments.

“Agriculture is a long-term project. When young people enter the space and realise that it takes time to make returns, they get discouraged. Support systems such as grants or soft loans will help cushion them until their yields start to grow,” he added.

According to the Fairtrade Youth Ambassador, the agricultural sector’s current state is discouraging to the youth – with the average cocoa farmer in the country aged between 55 and 56 years, a situation he described as alarming for the cocoa industry’s sustainability.

“We have to make the space lucrative for the youth to come on board. Looking at the sector now, it is not that attractive – which is why we are not getting young people involved,” he said.

Felix Tetteh mentioned these at an event organised to recognise and appreciate the contributions of youth in various farming cooperatives. He encouraged young people not to be demotivated but remain committed and position themselves for future opportunities in the sector.

During the event, some youth from various cooperatives in the Asunafo, Kukuom and other districts of the country shared their journey and how Fairtrade empowerment programmes such as the ‘Women School of Leadership’ has impacted their lives.

One of such is Dora, who was an unemployed graduate in the Kukuom district and through this programme has been able to set up a basic school, own her own farm and also become a youth ambassador for fairtrade. Through her ambassadorial position, she has been an advocate at the European Union (EU) youth parliament.

Project Manager at Fairtrade Africa, Samuel Osei Kwadwo, explained that the initiative formed part of activities marking World Youth Day – which focused on promoting and recognising the dedication of young people within cooperatives.

“We work with cocoa cooperatives as well as those producing fruit like mango, pineapple and shea. These cooperatives have young people occupying various positions. As part of our youth empowerment strategy, we want to promote more youth to support our producer organisations and agriculture as a whole.

“It is important to ensure inter-generational transfer by getting more youth involved in cocoa production – not as a stop-gap activity but as a profession that guarantees them a living income to support themselves and their families. We must continue to support and recognise their efforts in strengthening their organisations,” he said.

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