The Executive Director for Youth Harvest Foundation (YHFG) Ghana, John Kingsley Krugu has blamed the growing rate of unemployment among the youth in the country on the inordinate taste for imported rice.
According to him, the taste of foreign rice by Ghanaians scares the youth from engaging in rice farming just to avoid losses although it has great financial potentials which can be explored by the youth.
“The only way we can improve is by consuming local rice which is more nutritious, which we can trust more because we know where it is coming from. We know who is producing it and that gives jobs opportunities for young people and many young people can say okay if I go into rice farming I will make money.”
He made this comment at the Upper East regional Rice Agribusiness engagement forum organized in partnership with Christian Aid, Technoserve Ghana, and GIZ on Thursday to implement a project dubbed “Growing Rice Market Opportunity for women( GROW) in the Upper East Region”.
On the project, he mentioned that the purpose is to contribute to an improved livelihood of rice farmers and processors through their participation in an inclusive local rice market chain in Ghana.
He acknowledged the challenges in rice farming especially in the Upper Regions but encouraged farmers to use proper farming methods to surmount the challenges they face.
On her part, Madam Faustina Abugre of the Single Mothers Association encouraged Ghanaians to eat local rice because it contains essential nutrients such as Vitamin B, Phosphorus, Selenium, Manganese, Potassium, and Magnesium.
Some participants present at forum mentioned that the project has reoriented them and has provided them with experience on how to package their product to attract more consumers.
The forums provided an opportunity for rice farmers to market and promote their rice products to open up business opportunities for themselves.
By: Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen/a1radioonline.com/Ghana Email: Stephen@a1radioonline.com
