Develop Young Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Ghana

The unemployment rate for recent university graduates in Ghana is an increasing developmental problem. Unfortunately, teaching and learning in Ghana, especially in agriculture, are dominated by classroom lectures and presentations with limited practice opportunities for students. Graduates with agricultural backgrounds end up in other sectors unrelated to their ag training. 

Richmond graduated from Kwadaso Agricultural College in 2019 with a degree in General Agriculture. He served as the president of the Student Representative Council (SRC) from 2018-2019. He is originally from Axim in the Western Region of Ghana and both of his parents are farmers.

Richmond was recruited to Self-Help International’s Graduate Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) second cohort in 2019. He was the team leader of a group named VCJR. His team developed  a project that focused on the cultivation of maize (corn) and mushrooms. Prior to joining  the GEP cohort, Richmond did not have an extensive knowledge of practical agriculture.

During the one-year learning period with the GEP at Self-Help’s agriculture training center, the Self-Help team trained Richmond in practical agricultural practices, especially maize production. Through the training by Self-Help’s staff, Richmond’s team had a yield of 980 kilograms of maize on a 3600-meter square land (standard would be about 900kg per 4000-meters squared).  During his time at the training center, Richmond mastered the cultivation of maize and the production of mushrooms. 

In addition to his project at the training center, Richmond leased two more acres of land near the training center to cultivate maize on his own and to test the practices he had learned before he exited the program. He was very successful with the yield in his personal project.

Aside from the project Richmond’s team submitted to the GEP, Richmond also gained other valuable skills by traveling with Self-Help’s Agriculture Officers to communities for outreach services. He developed an interest in vegetable and fruit production, and he took it upon himself to cultivate tomatoes at the training center as an experiment. Richmond shared his findings with Self-Help’s partner farmers and people that visited the training center. 

At the end of his one year with the GEP, Richmond presented a proposal to go into raising pigs as a business enterprise in his home village. As of early 2021, Richmond has started this project and has six pigs, all pregnant. He has hired someone to take care of the pigs.

Richmond currently works with Agric Impact, a Ghana-based organization that works in greenhouse crop production. Due to his high performance, Richmond was assigned to be a team lead and was the only person invited to their center for the pilot of the entire project. He has started cultivating tomatoes, hoping to hit a target of 8 tons of tomatoes by the end of his production.

Richmond is always in touch with Self-Help’s team due to the good relationship he established during his year with GEP. During one of such conversations, he mentioned how the training he received during the GEP has helped him in his current position.