The Adviser on Agriculture Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Abraham Sarfo has called on the government of Ghana to review the policy establishing the Youth and Employment model in Agriculture and make it a more sustainable policy that will be beneficial to the youth.

He said the current programme which is being implemented by the government under the Agricultural model of the new Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency, (GYEDA) need to place much emphasis on training and education on agriculture to make the programme more sustainable.

Mr Abraham Sarfo made the remarks in an interview with Myjoyonline.com at a training workshop organised for journalists by NEPAD and the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said, Agriculture Education is given recognition at the highest level as most people in Africa pursue programmes in Agriculture to PhD level but with very little emphasis on Training at the lower level in the sector.

“[The] people with Technical and Vocational skills are what we need at the middle and lower levels but are virtually non-existent. Attention has been at the higher level. Producing more scientists and graduates who are not willing to be on the field” he complained.

The NEPAD official, who expressed grave concern at the current trend of neglect in Agricultural skills Training in schools revealed that some of the institutions established for training purposes have been converted into Business schools.

"How can we develop the Agric sector when we are the same people killing the very institutions built for training agric officers?" he asked.

He mentioned, the Ghana Kwadaso Agric College which was established to train middle level hands for extension services to support the Ministry of Agriculture but has been changed into a degree awarding Agric College with affiliation to the University of Cape Coast.

Mr Sarfo said Farming Institutions at Nyankpala, Azdidome, Aswanse and Wenchi have all been neglected by the Ministry of Agriculture and the government, adding that they are currently at 12 per cent utilization, a situation he observed undermined the country’s quest to make agriculture more attractive and economically viable.

He stated that GYEDA management should link the Agric model with these neglected institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture and train the youth to acquire employable skills in agriculture in order to give meaning to the programme and revamp such institutions to serve the purpose for which they were established.

Mr Abraham Sarfo hinted that, the objective of African Union, NEPAD and CAADP is to appeal to member States to work towards reforms in such Agricultural Training Institutes and motivate Teachers and the Heads of such institutions to understand what he described as “demand driven Agricultural Training.”

The adviser on  Agriculture Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) at NEPAD suggested the AU Commission is designing a programme which will take teachers in Agriculture and Technical Skills to countries that have performed creditably well in that sector to enable them appreciate the new approaches required to draw the youth along the value chain in agriculture.

The focus of the programme according to Mr Abraham would not only be at the production level but also on Agric Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Quality Standards and other new contents that the current agriculture market demands.

He further disclosed that AU will hold conference with senior level and heads of states to re- strategies their investment in agriculture education.

‘AU believes that sustainable job creation in Africa would be led by the agriculture sector than any other sector of the economy’ stressing that policy makers and political leadership from the continent must know that practical vocational agricultural education has created many jobs in other jurisdictions.