The Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer of MTN Ghana, Adwoa Wiafe, has emphasized that young people should view agriculture as a viable career path for earning a decent living.
She pointed out that agriculture is profitable and has become less labor-intensive due to advancements in technology and modern farming techniques that have transformed the industry, making it more accessible.
Ms. Wiafe made these remarks in Accra on Thursday during a visit from rural farmers to Umoja Farms at the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School, Legon.
The tour, organized by the MTN Foundation, was designed for women farmers from the La Nkwatanang-Madina Municipality in celebration of the MTN International Day of Rural Women. This event is part of the MTN Women Empowerment in Agribusiness program, marking the International Day of Rural Women on October 15.
During the program, the women, part of a cohort of 160 farmers receiving support from the MTN Ghana Foundation under its Economic Empowerment focus, were introduced to innovative farming techniques such as drip irrigation, plastic mulching, and fertilizer application.
Additionally, Ms. Wiafe mentioned that the MTN Foundation’s economic empowerment initiative aims to equip women with knowledge about smart farming practices.
“We realize now that we are getting less and less access to farmland, and so we have to make the best use of the land that we have. One of the ways we can do that is to employ digital and modern methods of farming,” she outlined.
In line with that, Ms. Wiafe mentioned that the MTN Foundation had approved a programme to support 160 rural women farmers within the La Nkwatanang-Madina Municipality.
She said the programme would be conducted by the La Nkwatanang-Madina Municipal Agriculture Department and other partners such as Defarmercist Limited.
The General Manager of Defarmercist Limited, Mr. Charles Agyeman, who introduced the women farmers to new methods of farming, said the ‘plastic mulch’ innovation had been introduced to control weeds in vegetable farming, and currently, vegetable farmers do not need to weed to control weeds on their vegetable farms.
Mr. Agyeman underlined that an irrigation timer product had been introduced to help farmers irrigate their farms with little human intervention and at their own scheduled time.
A beneficiary of the programme, Christelle Gle, said that through the programme, she was currently cultivating pepper and vegetables in the backyard of her house.
She also indicated that she had adopted the drip irrigation system to water the vegetables and could farm all year round.