Dr Sidik Baba Sulemana, an agricultural innovation technology consultant, has called for the reintroduction of Ghana’s state farm policy to strengthen food security and create sustainable employment opportunities for the youth.
He said the state farms initiative, introduced in Ghana in the 1960s, transformed the country’s agricultural sector, and that reviving the policy could play a significant role in improving food security and reducing youth unemployment.
Dr Sulemana, who is lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Innovation Communication at the University for Development Studies, said state farms, if professionally managed and insulated from political interference, could serve as modern agribusiness hubs to increase agricultural productivity and create jobs across the agricultural value chain.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale, he said the policy had the potential to generate employment in crop and livestock production, food processing, agricultural mechanisation services, transportation, input supply and other agribusiness enterprises.
Dr Sulemana: “State farms can play an important role in addressing food insecurity and youth unemployment in Ghana if they are managed well. The policy can boost local food production, reduce food imports and create jobs for young people along the agricultural value chain.”
Dr Sulemana identified poor management and weak accountability as the greatest threats to the success of public sector interventions in Ghana and cautioned that the policy could fail if it became politicised or lacked sound business management practices.
He stressed that professionally managed, transparent and market-oriented state farms would be better positioned to achieve their intended objectives.
Dr Sulemana recommended that the government should outsource the recruitment and management of the farms to competent private recruitment firms and agribusiness companies to improve efficiency, ensure professionalism and minimise political interference.
He urged the government to prioritise crop and livestock value chains with high employment potential, while enhancing national food security.
He further proposed that government should begin with pilot state farms supported by robust monitoring, evaluation and accountability systems before scaling up the initiative nationwide.
By Solomon Gumah, GNA