A Young Farmer in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region, Moses Apiah has cautioned youth especially unemployed graduates to invest their mega resources in Agriculture and stop buying expensive iPhones.
According to him, majority of unemployed graduates are holding expensive devices to the neglect of using that same amount of money to startup businesses.
The attitude amongst the youth, Mr Apiah said ought to be stopped as technology will continue to advance over time.
“Walking on the street of Bolgatanga, you will see that those who are unemployed or do not have better jobs are the ones using expensive phones. Sometime I will wonder what exactly is wrong with our youth. Imagine using Gh2, 000.00 to invest in farming, the return that you will get will be mind blowing. The painful part is that those who are even holding those expensive phones don’t even know the proper use of them or how to get money out of them”, he stressed.
Mr Apiah who is also a Journalist with A1 Radio, a local media outlet in Bolgatanga, noted that since he started the farming three years ago, he has not regarded the initiative as it has helped him to explore, and earn more income.
He said “I started farming by using my first paid salary to invest in it. I started with just three arches of maize farm. I made sure I bought the necessary inputs including the fertilizers. I was fully ready for it and luckily on my part, I did not experience post-harvest losses. Then, the following year, I increased my farm size to seven arches again, I made some gains. This year, I have increased my farm size again to fifteen arches and despite the fertilizer challenges, I think, I’m sealing through it because I have been able to apply my crops with the necessary fertilizer.”
Touching on the need for young graduates to venture into the sector, he said it will help them alleviate their financial burdens.
He said “We all know how the system is, especially if you are living in an external family; the demands from siblings and others are always too much. At the end of the month if care is not taken your borrowing to solve family issues will even surpass your monthly intake. But since I started farming, not for once did I find myself in the market to buy grains to feed my family. Sometimes, we will even sell some of the products to cater for other pressing issues in the family.”
Mr Apiah, therefore, called on the government to as well set up initiatives that will make the sector look more attractive for the youth to venture in.
Source: A1Radioonline.com| 101.1MHz| Ghana
Youth in Agriculture my priority.
I recently won Youth FARMER OF THE YEAR at the Ghana YOUTH awards.
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