A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Horticulture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr Eli A. Gaveh, has urged the youth to view agriculture not as a burden but as an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
"As a nation, we need dedicated and committed youth who will be able to transform the nation and build a stronger economy through agriculture for the benefit of all," he said.
He said the agricultural sector in its current state cannot run effectively if the youth are not actively involved, saying, "as academia, we see the youth as key players in the whole equation of agriculture."
Dr Gaveh made the remarks while addressing the Ghana Cocoa Innovations Hackathon 2026 event at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources auditorium, KNUST. It was organised under the auspices of KNUST together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, in collaboration with the Netherlands Embassy.
The event was held under the theme: "Bridging the gap between industry and academia through youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship." As part of the event, ten groups of students, comprising six members in each group, competed through presentations of innovative ideas and technologies that could transform the cocoa sector. At the end of the contest, a group that came up with the idea to rehabilitate old cocoa farms and establish a cocoa centre of excellence won the coveted prize. Each member received a laptop.
Highest yield
Dr Gaveh mentioned that the highest yield Ghana recorded in cocoa production over the past 20 years was one million metric tonnes and said the nation had not been able to reach that target despite many interventions introduced to shore up cocoa production.
"Looking at the challenges with climate change coupled with youth disinterest in agriculture, there is a great threat to the cocoa sector. If we address this threat, the whole value chain of cocoa which is the bedrock of the economy will be threatened," he said.
He stressed: "We need to preserve the cocoa sector like gold and any other treasure. If we take out cocoa from the Ghanaian economy, we are going to crash the economy with its attendant consequences on the citizenry."
Ageing farmers
Dr Gaveh, who is also the Lead Organiser of the event, expressed concern that the average age of the Ghanaian farmer was currently about 60 years and stated that the nation cannot rely on ageing farmers to run and transform the agriculture sector.
"We need the youth who are more energetic, value and purpose driven to cause change and innovation in the sector. The hackathon is one of the instruments which we are using to drive the youth in agriculture, not only in cocoa cultivation but the entire sector," he said.
Entice youth
A diplomat at the Netherlands Embassy in Accra, Naomi Tuintra, said they intended to use the programme to entice the youth to think about the cocoa sector in an innovative way due to ageing farmers.
"This will go a long way in giving young people the idea that there are opportunities in the cocoa sector that they can take advantage of to contribute to the sector's growth," she said.
She charged policy makers to ensure that young people benefit from available opportunities in terms of access to land, tools and equipment, and other related services to improve agriculture in general.
Other speakers
The University Relations Officer of KNUST, Dr Daniel N. Bekoe, said the university had introduced entrepreneurship at all levels, especially in Artificial Intelligence, to enable students to create jobs for themselves after completion.
For his part, the Provost of CANR, KNUST, Professor Dadson Awunyo-Vitor, underscored the need to stimulate entrepreneurship drive among students through innovation, saying, "any society that fails to innovate risks extinction."
