Pius Enam Hadzide, Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), has appealed to corporate organisations to allocate ten per cent of their corporate social responsibility budget to set up incubator programmes and train some persons to venture into agriculture.

Mr Hadzide made the appeal at the launch of the Kofi Annan Enterprise Hub for Agricultural Innovation (KAEHAI) – KGL Foundation Entrepreneurship Training and Incubator Programme in Accra.

“We believe that agriculture offers a low hanging fruit in a rapid results kind of approach towards the resolution of the challenge of youth unemployment, which stands at some 19.7 per cent, which we think is high,” he said.

Mr Hadzide said interventions like those were a pragmatic and practical way of dealing with the challenges of youth unemployment.

He commended the University of Ghana (UG), School of Agriculture, the West Africa Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI) and the KGL Foundation for the intervention to train selected young persons.

Mr Hadzide added that, “and so once we commend KGL Foundation, we are encouraging other companies to also take a cue from them and do what they have done.”

He also noted the need for the curriculum at the tertiary level to be developed to reflect more on the needs and the aspirations of the young ones in terms of the future of work.

Mr Elliot Dadey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), KGL Foundation, said the project sought to give more attention to the agriculture sector, to create an impact in the economy and communities.

He said KGL Foundation was a non-profit organisation in Ghana, which aimed at creating sustainable initiatives to support marginalised communities in health, education, agriculture, sports, youth empowerment, arts and culture and others.

Ms Jereme Keren Agyemang, Programmes Manager, KAEHAI, WACCI, UG, said the KAEHAI had partnered with the KGL Foundation to set up an entrepreneurship training and incubator programme in Ghana.

She said the five-year project sought to train a minimum of 20 potential entrepreneurs every year and to establish a minimum of four seed businesses every year.

Ms Agyemang said the Foundation offered USD500,000 for the project, and also thanked the KGL Foundation for partnering with KAEHAI.

“I encourage others in the private sectors and corporate entities to emulate what the KGL Foundation is doing and also come on board to help transform agriculture and make it a sustainable industry in the country,” she stressed.