Yara
Ghana, leading mineral fertilizer manufacturer and distributor, is initiating a
scheme to promote the business of agriculture among young people.
The
‘Farming Academy’ has the aim of driving students from the primary through to
the senior high school level to learn best practices in crop production whilst appreciating
opportunities in the agricultural sector.
“Yara
is all about knowledge; we don’t believe we just sell fertilizer, but we bring
the knowledge that comes with it”, said Mehdi Saint-André, Managing Director of
Yara Ghana.
According
to him, the Academy will discourage the perception that farming is a punishment
and rather inculcate in students the knowledge and skills in land preparation,
seed selection and fertilizer application as well as post harvest activities
and storage.
The
pilot project would be undertaken with inmates of the Royal Seed Home at Odupong Ofaankor, Kasoa, where the company has established a 15-acre maize
farm to support the orphanage.
“Hopefully
for the next farming season in March/April 2013, we’ll be ready and we’ll go on
the farm with a group of children but it should be incorporated in the school
curricula; if they have some topics which is about farming or agriculture, then
they can go on the field with us to learn”, stated Saint-André.
He
reiterated that Yara Ghana’s corporate social responsibility projects are fully
integrated into its business with an objective to develop the productivity of
the Ghanaian farmer.
He
cited the ‘Yara Crop Clinic’ for product retailers and the Masara N’Arziki “Maize for Prosperity” projects as thriving CSR schemes to help increase knowledge
and incomes among local farmers.
Meanwhile,
Yara Ghana has commissioned a Gh₵20,000 potable water facility to meet the
needs of the 145 inmates of the Royal Seed Home.
Founder
of the Home, Mrs. Naomi Esi Amoah is excited at the gesture and appealed to
other benevolent individuals and institutions to support in “caring for the
children who need to be trained as future leaders with good vision”.
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