The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has organised a dissemination workshop in Tamale to bring out key findings of Ghana's third Agriculture Census in Northern Ghana.

The workshop brought together Directors of Agriculture, members of the GSS, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), in the Agriculture sector.

The report of the Ghana Census of Agriculture (GCA), which was conducted in 2017-2018 Agriculture season, would be disseminated further in the Middle and Southern Zones.

Mr Anthony Amuzu-Pharin, the Director of Social and Demographic Statistics of GSS, said the dissemination was aimed at making the key findings of the National Report of Ghana Census of Agriculture (GCA) simple to attract and sustain the interest of people to search for details of the report.

He said the dissemination was needed to take some agricultural decisions and some policy directions, adding that the report, even though was available, could not be accessible to everyone except those directly under the Statistical Service due to its cumbersome nature.

Some key findings contained in the census indicated that males have dominated the agricultural activities, even though women were found in agricultural homes, the youth in the Northern Zone are not much into agriculture.

The report further revealed that about 80% of agricultural holders nationwide produce on lands less than two acres and, thus, cannot be said to be commercial farming.

The report, however, recommended that there should be support measures for the youth who wanted to venture into agriculture.

It further recommended that government should provide a guaranteed market for agricultural products to attract more people to venture into commercial agriculture.

The Director of Social and Demographic Statistics said the data collection ended in 2019 and indicated that it was important to be sure of the quality of census data being produced, and, therefore, it's dissemination delayed.

Professor Samuel K. Annim, Government Statistician, encouraged statisticians to be keen about the upcoming 2021 population and housing census, adding that, it was the basis for other censuses and surveys, characterised by development and disaggregation.

Mr Issahaku Alhassan, Regional Coordinating Director at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, commended the GSS for disseminating the findings and said the findings should be used as a guide to implement plans of the agricultural sector and to devise ways to disseminate it further.

Full report of the GCA can be accessed on www.statsghana.gov.gh, the official website of the GSS