Hot!
Entrepreneur establishes livestock centre to train youth
Mr Koduah and Darnmark partners and others
A Ghanaian entrepreneur has established a livestock training centre known as Global Farming and Technology Institute to train the youth, particularly females, to contribute to livestock farming in the country.
The Institute willcollaborate with the Animal Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the University of Development Studies (UDS), Namkpala Campus, and Tech College in Denmark.
Located in the old Tafo community in the Abuakwa North District of the Eastern Region, it has a modern abattoir, laboratory, lecture halls, and farm demonstration sites.
It aims at improving the knowledge of every livestock farmer in the country, focusing on cattle (for beef), sheep, goats, pigs (hogs), and poultry enterprises as well as non-traditional livestock, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, grass cutters, and African giant snails.
In a chat with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Institute, Kwame B.Koduah, during a three-day training for 100 farmers and non-farmers, he indicated that the decision to establish the Institute “is to bridge the literacy skills gap in Ghana’s livestock industry.”
He said “this is an effort to advance and keep informal Ghanaian farmers abreast of emerging technologies in the livestock sector.”
He observed with grave concern the gradual decline in the livestock subsector’s contribution to Ghana’s agricultural Gross Domestic Product(GDP),which has dropped from 12.60 per cent in 2014 to 8.31 per cent in 2020.
Due to this decline, he said “the Institute aims to incorporate modern technologies to augment traditional methods of rearing and breeding.”
Mr. Koduadisclosed that about 100 youth have already been trained and given 100 piglets and fowls each as startups of their businesses.
He mentioned that the beneficiaries were provided with the feeds for the animals and all “they do is to take good care of them for good production.”
“If the youth of this country will be serious with livestock farming, the country’s economy will thrive because technology is boosting the industry,”he stated.
The Denmark partners, Dennis Christensen, a butcher cum lecturer at the Tech College, and Morten Wagner, Sales and Development Director of AVS Agriculture, trained both farmers and non-farmers on producing various meat products, including hot burgers, sausages and meat bread.
They mentioned the importance of adding value to meat to create jobs for the youth and called on females, in particular, to take advantage of the training at the institute to better their lives.
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi