Developing and Supporting Young Agripreneurs Like Moses

By: Emmanuel Obiri Laryea

Youth Unemployment Impacts Everyone

Learning at the training center.

Ghana has a young population, with approximately 57% of people under the age of 25. Despite being such a large portion of the population, Ghana’s young people face chronic unemployment due to several economic and political factors.

Massive rural-to-urban migration is leading to overpopulation of urban areas as many people go to the city with the hope of finding a job. Overpopulation and disparities in employment opportunities often translate to poor health conditions, food insecurity, and high poverty rates in urban areas.

Agriculture accounts for almost 20% of Ghana’s GDP and over half of the workforce is employed through smallholder farmers. However, farming is not viewed as an attractive or lucrative career field by the youth in Ghana.

Self-Help International seeks to address these issues by providing hands-on training in agribusiness ventures that will lead to job creation, skills development, and improved financial stability. Self-Help Agriculture Specialists establish relationships with farmers, communities and schools to offer trainings and provide technical support.

Moses Finds a Passion for Ag

Moses is a 21-year-old high school graduate who lives with his parents and four other siblings at Mpasatia in the Atwima Nponua District of the Ashanti Region. Moses graduated from secondary school with an emphasis in Visual Arts, but he was not able to continue on to university.

Even though Moses was unable to further his education, he was passionate and enthusiastic about turning the tables and overcoming his challenges. Moses visited Self-Help’s Agricultural and Entrepreneurial Training Center where he was introduced to various agribusiness ventures. He decided agriculture was the path for him and worked closely with staff at the training center to develop a viable business plan in the areas that interested him.

Moses showing his quail business.

Moses started with raising quails – a cost effective way for him to break in to agriculture entrepreneurship. Self-Help staff provided coaching and training on marketing strategies, record keeping, and sustainable methods to grow his business and improve his managerial and entrepreneurial skills.

He now collects quail eggs for sale and prepares his own feed. He is eagerly seeking ways to grow and expand his business.

“I’m hoping to buy an incubator to enable me to hatch a large number of quail eggs in the near future,” Moses said.

Through his determination and energy, Moses has now added turkey, guinea fowl, and snail rearing to his business venture and has started preparing compost to enable him to start agriculture vegetable production.

Moses hopes to hire a farm assistant in the near future as he scales up his business, creating employment for others. His passion for agriculture is gradually changing the attitude of his peers in the neighborhood as well as his younger siblings – they are now eager to assist with his agricultural venture.