BY VALENTIA TETTEH
The Northern Caucus of Parliament is rallying the support of the diplomatic community and development partners to drive economic transformation across the five northern regions of Ghana.
Speaking at a high-level stakeholder engagement with members of the diplomatic corps, the Majority Leader and Chair of the Northern Caucus, Mahama Ayariga, underscored the need for strategic partnerships to create sustainable jobs, tackle youth unemployment, and unlock the region’s vast economic potential.
Mr. Ayariga noted that despite the abundance of fertile land in the northern part of the country, much of it remains underdeveloped and unirrigated, forcing many young people to migrate southward in search of menial jobs.
“The northern part of this country has huge, vast expanses of arable land that remain undeveloped and unirrigated. Many of our youth are compelled to move south to engage in menial work or drift into mining areas, abandoning school and missing the opportunity for a better future,” he lamented.
To address these challenges, the Northern Caucus, he said, has resolved to prioritize the development of agriculture to position northern Ghana as the nation’s food basket.
“We took a decision to focus on developing the agricultural potential of the north as the breadbasket of the country. We believe this is achievable, and we are building on previous studies and regional input to make it a reality,” he stated.
According to Mr. Ayariga, the Caucus has engaged all five northern regional ministers to identify viable investment areas for large-scale commercial agriculture. The ministers were tasked to study potential agricultural zones and propose strategies for attracting private-sector investment.
As part of this initiative, the Northern Caucus sponsored all five northern regional ministers, together with the Bono Regional Minister, on a 10-day study tour to South Africa’s Limpopo Province, a region with similar climatic conditions to northern Ghana — to learn best practices in agricultural transformation.
The Northern Caucus, made up of Members of Parliament from both sides of the House, aims to promote bipartisan collaboration in addressing youth unemployment, food insecurity, and infrastructural deficits in the north.
Mr. Ayariga emphasized that with the right partnerships and commitment, the northern regions could become a major hub for agricultural production and economic growth in Ghana.
