The Vice-President, John Dramani Mahama, has ad­vised the youth to take advantage of the numerous agricultural programmes in the system to better their lot and also ensure food sufficiency for the country. He gave the advice at the durbar of the chiefs and people of the Botoku Traditional Area in the Volta Region at the weekend. The occasion was used to honour Ms Akua Sena Dansua, Member of Parliament for North Dayi constitu­ency and Minister of Women and Children Affairs, for her meritorious service to the constituency and the country. Mr Mahama entreated the youth to go into agricul­ture instead of travelling outside the country at the peril of their lives. The vice President said the government was initiat­ing policies to improve agriculture in order to make it attractive by mechanising it, saying that by investing in agriculture, opportunities would be created for the youth to stay at home to help build the country. He particularly promised the people of Botoku that the Vakpo-Botoku Tsovor road would soon be con­structed to enable the people in the area to cart their farm produce to the marketing centres. He described Ms Dansua as sociable, approachable and firm in her decisions and challenged the youth to emulate her and aspire to achieve her feat. The Mankrado of Botoku Traditional Area, Togbe Atakora IV, who chaired the programme, commended the President for selecting a daughter of the area as a Cabinet minister. . Togbe Atakora appealed to the government to har­ness the tourism potential in the area to create employ­ment for the youth and also open the area to the out­side world. The chairman of the Botoku Youth Association, Mr Charles K. Appiah, underscored the importance of edu­cation, an important tool for unleashing their poten­tials. Ms Dansua was later enstooled as a development chief under the stool name Mama Nyuiewa I. Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, the Member of Parlia­ment for Ho, whose mother hails from Botoku, was also honoured for his meritorious service to the area. Source: Ghanaian Times