Mastercard Foundation, Agri-impact target 10% food import reduction with HAPPY programme

Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited for the implementation of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Programme, is targeting food import reduction in Ghana by 10% annually.

This follows the successes chalked under the programme at its project sites, including the one at Kasunya in the Shai-Osudoku District in Accra.

The Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Programme aims to create dignified jobs for 326,000 young people aged 15 to 35 over four years within the agricultural sector, focusing on the poultry, rice, tomato, and soybean value chains.

Since its launch in December 2023, over 90,000 youth, including women and persons with disabilities, have joined the initiative in its first year of implementation.

Chief Executive Officer of Agri-Impact Limited, Daniel Acquaye, in an interview with the media on the sidelines of the 2024 HAPPY Programme Exhibition held at the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) Ghana CARES Economic Enclave in Kasunya, Shai-Osudoku District emphasized the importance of the programme for food import reduction and job creation.

“Apart from creating jobs using these four value chains, we also intend to produce 189,000 metric tonnes of food and generate close to $200 million worth of income for these young people annually and by so doing we will be able to reduce our food import by 10% per annum,” he said.

Mastercard Foundation Ghana Country Director, Rwigamba Rica after touring Agro Kings’ farms at the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) Ghana CARES Economic Enclave in Kasunya commended the progress made under the program and encouraged youth to consider agriculture as a viable career path.

“What we have seen today is really young people many of them who sometimes were not even confident that they could do anything because maybe they didn’t go to school or even when they did for a long time they were out of work but today seeing how much they have been able to do…some of them almost owing some of the land or at least working on the land and being able to sell and making a good amount of money from what we have heard from them.

“To a lot of young people, agriculture is very beneficial. One can make money. Agriculture is not just the planting and production but there is a whole value chain. So we are encouraging people to look at it from a value chain perspective, she stated

The HAPPY programme initiative is being implemented by eight organizations, namely: Newage Agric Solutions, National Service Scheme (NSS), Ghana CARES (MiDA), Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), TechnoServe, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Jobberman.