By MERCY DARKO
Interventions to improve agriculture education in the country are yielding positive results as the six Agricultural Colleges across the country are being equipped to drive modernized agriculture.
The intervention is under the Technical Education Development for Modernized Agriculture in Ghana, TEDMAG, and has for the past 6 years provided state-of-the-art ICT and science laboratories as well as mechanization blocks, among other resources at the Agricultural Colleges.
As the project draws to a close by the end of the year, stakeholders are brainstorming in Accra, on how to sustain the TEDMAG projects.
The Director of Human Resource Development, at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Lawoetey Tettey, said ”the project has been successful and needs to be sustained to create opportunities in the agricultural value chain”.
The TEDMAG project seeks to enhance agriculture education and training towards an agri-business market-oriented system, with extension delivery services to support farmers to move from subsistence to income earning enterprises.
This involves among others, a review of the curricula and current techniques at the Agricultural Colleges.
The Director of Human Resource Development, at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, MOFA, Lawoetey Tettey, said the intervention should motivate Agricultural Colleges to sensitize the public to the benefits of modernized agriculture.
He said ”agricultural education has the potential to address some of the current challenges in the economy, especially unemployment”.
TEDMAG Principal Investigator, Mary Burr, said improving the ability of Ghanaians to produce more will help efforts at ensuring food security.
Principal of the Ejura Agricultural College and Mechanization Center, Bright Akoto, in a presentation on the TEDMAG Projects, highlighted the progress made under the interventions, especially the provision of a science lab and retooling of some facilities in his institution.
He indicated that the Ejura College has implemented a 5 per cent cut in the feeding fees for students, due to the pragmatic programmes in which the students are playing major roles.
The TEDMAG Project with funding from Global Affairs, Canada, is spearheaded by the Canadian High Commission in collaboration with the University of Missouri Assistance Program-UMAP Ghana, University of Saskatchewan-Canada, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources of the University of Missouri and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The project is at a cost of 15 million Canadian dollars.