Business News of Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-06-22Leverage on agric sector to curb rising unemployment - Dr. Kofi Amoah to government
Dr. Kofi Amoah alias Citizen Kofi
Renowned economist and businessman, Dr Kofi Amoah has called on the government to make land reforms a priority item if it is committed to accelerating the development of the country.
According to Dr Amoah, who is affectionately called Citizen Kofi, Ghana’s competitive advantage still lies heavily in agriculture and thus access to land, which is the essential ingredient for agric
Read full articleto prosper needs to be properly structured.
Currently, Ghana’s land structure and ownership is fraught with chieftaincy disputes, litigation, land guards, and double and multiple sales among other challenges. This he says must be dealt with during the land reforms he is proposing.
Dr Amoah argues that the worrying unemployment and underemployment crisis looming in the country can be solved with land reforms to stimulate agric production.
In a series to tweets this week, he firmly articulated the upside of these reforms and why they must be done as soon as possible.
On Monday, he tweeted, “GH NEEDS LAND REFORM. The truth of our potential 4 fast track econ dvlpmt lies in agric, just as it did 4 the US, China, and Malaysia. But a glance at our land holding structure confirms that in Gh this truth is ignored LAND+PEOPLE=WEALTH Give the Youth ACCESS to Land, Create Wealth!”
Since the offset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, there has been a dire global economic crisis confronting many countries and in Ghana unemployment is currently threatening the security of the country.
Many jobless youths have been vociferous, calling on the government to fix the economy while those who have the opportunity are leaving the country for greener pastures.
Dr Amoah maintains while the economic crunch is not peculiar to Ghan alone, the time has come to encourage the youth to consider agric as a viable alternative. Using himself as an example, he says agric is not for dropouts as has been made to seem for many years.
“Produce food to feed the nation n make money! The Youth of Ghana, ‘shine’ thy eyes n grab the green gold that’s your gift! Discard the old n foolish thinking that farming is for villagers n the uneducated… WRONG! I’m into Oil Palm, Coconut, Mango n Maize farming n loving it. “
Dr Amoah adds to the growing list of influential people who have advised the youth to venture into entrepreneurship since the government in the foreseeable future won’t be able to employ the majority of the graduates coming out of school.
Former President Ibrahim Mahama has also pushed for entrepreneurship for the youth. Finance Minister Ofori Attah is pushing this agenda with the YouStart programme it has launched.
