A Member of Parliament (MP) has urged the youth to broaden their knowledge base through reading and writing in order to develop their communication skills and build a successful career for the future. "Read newspapers, books and take part in writing competitions to improve upon your knowledge because education is the key to success. Do not worry if you fail because if you do not fail you would never learn to perform better," said Mrs Elizabeth Sackey, MP for Okaikwei North. She gave the advice on Friday in Accra at the 2007 regional National Farmers' Day essay competition awards, organised by Fahisi Services Limited, textbook publishers, for secondary and tertiary students throughout the country. The competition was organised as part of efforts to introduce a Literary and an intellectual dimension into the National Farmers' Day celebration. Mrs Sackey said if the youth in Ghana were able to develop their communication skills, it would greatly prepare them for leadership positions in future. She advised the organisers not to target only the youth with such competitions, but they should also include adults. "Achieving success is not only at the secondary and tertiary sectors of education, but it is a lifelong process," she added. Mrs Sackey called for the organisation of more essay competitions to prepare the youth to face the challenges in the global world. Mr Kwabena Agyekum-Sarbraw, Acting Director of Human Resource Development and Management at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) urged the youth to develop interest in agriculture, saying it is a lucrative venture. "Through globalisation, you can get access to the requisite technology in both international and local market avenues that would motivate you to get into agriculture," he said. Mr Agyekum-Sarbraw noted that challenges facing the development of agriculture include its inability to attract the youth. "Agriculture is in the hands of the aged and it is not a good story to talk about." He called for the modernisation of agriculture to ensure that more graduates make it their profession. He said value addition of agricultural products through processing and marketing would lead to the modernisation of agriculture. Mr Rodney Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Fahisi Services Limited, said the aim of organising the competition was to enhance the skills of young writers. "Africa needs young writers to replace the likes of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Ama Ata Aidoo, who set the pace in creative writing," he said. He announced plans to organise an annual Ghana Literary Awards night for young writers of short stories, novels and poems. Mr Mawutor Gawenyo of the Pentecost University College, who won the first prize, took home GH¢50.00, a book and a plaque. Mr Evans Maka of the University of Cape Coast, first runner up, received GH¢30.00, a book and plaque, while Bernard Archibald Senyo Agyeman of the same institution came third and had GH¢20.00, a book and a plaque. Five other participants won a book and 2.0-gigabyte storage drives as consolation prizes. Source: GNA