The Newage Agric Solutions Limited has begun a journey to create 145,000 dignified jobs for youth, women and persons with disability, with women constituting 70%.

This is being done through the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) programme, a co-created consortium-managed project.

The company is set to achieve this target through the provision of 18,000ha of irrigated and rainfed land for use by youth especially women over the next 4 years.

These youth will continue to have access to the lands for farming and be integrated into the network of farmers connected to Newage Agric Solutions Limited.

The primary goal of the entire programme is to catalyse transformative investments in the rice, soybean, tomato, and poultry value chains, with overarching objectives of boosting production volumes, curbing imports, and strategically fostering employment opportunities targeting youth, women, and people with disabilities.

Newage Agric Solutions Limited will also support 120 youths to establish 120 hectares of rice seed farms to supply rice seeds to farmers under the programme as well as expand to other farmers outside the HAPPY programme.

The company’s role in the project will result in increased production in smallholder young farmers and lead to the production and mobilisation of at least 141,790MT of paddy valued at over $44.3 million and 55,000MT of soybean valued at over $34.38 million annually.

The entire consortium-led programme, however, intends to achieve a 20% production increase across the four value chains by the end of the implementation phase.

The investment will entail the expansion of cultivated land by 40,000 hectares and enhancements in yields within the existing 15,000 hectares, with an anticipated outcome of an impressive yield of over 189,000 tons of food and 10,000 tons of poultry, resulting in an annual total revenue of $164 million post-2026.

The HAPPY programme is projected to generate, sustain, and enhance approximately 320,000 dignified jobs, with women constituting 70% of this workforce.

The initiative is also expected to curtail the national import expenditure, resulting in savings exceeding $164 million over the four years. Newage Agric Solutions Limited begins this journey on Thursday, December 7, with a consultative meeting with rice farmers and stakeholders in Tono in the Upper East Region to introduce them to the programme and to encourage more youth and women to get on board the HAPPY train.