A United States-based Economist, Dr. Sa-ad Iddrisu, is calling for a Youth in Agriculture (YIA) policy in 2025 as a way to create jobs for the youth and also ensure food security in the country.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM show on June 13th, alongside other revered panelists which included Prof Charles Ackah, Dr. Arthur Kennedy, and Dr. Abu Sakara, Dr. Iddrisu said “We can’t move forward until we are able to feed ourselves.”

Dr Iddrisu added that “You cannot attain economic sovereignty on hunger. That is never done. You cannot attain economic sovereignty on others peoples food. That’s food imports.”

Dr. Iddrisu again added that “Implement Youth in Agriculture program in 2025. We must have a purely national policy whereby we encourage the youth to go into agriculture, large scale agriculture.”

“The Ghanaian youth after completing a degree, is expecting an office job. It’s like a mindset and we have to change that. We have to put government policy in place to change that, such that once the youth are able to go into agriculture, we would have much more to feed our nation and think of export,” he said.

“We have to respect the youth, the knowledge from the youth. Someone being less than 40 years doesn’t mean the person doesn’t have the knowledge to advise government. Our older generation really need to respect the youth and put people in proper positions.” Dr. Iddrisu concluded.