Mr Giovanni Favillin, the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, has performed the ground-breaking ceremony for work to begin on the construction of multi-million Cedi Agriculture Training Centre at Kyeremasu in the Dormaa Municipality.
The centre, which comprises modern storage facilities, 800-capacity lecture hall, administration blocks, offices, lecture theatres, and residential accommodation, is part of a project developed by ENI, an Italian multinational oil and gas company, and would be operated by the National Board of Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).
Dubbed “Okuafo Pa” the project is aimed at enhancing opportunities for rural famers to improve on their productivity and add value to their produce as well as build linkages for the famers to easily access ready markets.
The project also seeks to support industrialization and foster sustainable development by promoting socio-economic development which is in alignment to the agenda 2030 of the United Nations.
It is hoped that with this effort, farmers would easily access quality training, micro finance, and a large labour market for their produce.
Mr Favillin said the Italian government is determined to support Ghana to address her teething youth unemployment problem which has contributed to irregular migration among the youth, who travel on the high seas to countries like Italy to seek greener pastures.
He said employable skills training are very essential and an effective antidote for unemployment and urged the youth to go into skills training to acquire useful vocations.
On completion, he said, the training centre would offer numerous opportunities for the rural farmers and urged the youth to consider farming as a lucrative vocation to enhance their socio-economic livelihoods.
Professor George Gyan-Baffour, the Minister of Planning, said government and our development partners are determined to modernize agriculture and make the sector attractive for the youth.
He said a diversified agriculture sector would not only create enormous opportunities in the sector, but would also enhance national food productivity and security.
Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Minister of Health, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa Central, appealed to Italy to help Ghana establish processing and storage facilities to address the recurring incidence of post-harvest losses.
Source: GNA
