By:Isaac Amoah/tntnewspapergh.com
The Tamale Girls Senior High School (SHS) in the Northern Region has been adjudged the overall best 2024 KIC School Farm competition, with St. Joseph Technical Institute taking the first runner-up position.
For their awards,the contestants went home with five,four(4) desktop computers, citations, plaques and a trophy sponsored by Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), in collaboration with Master Card Foundation and other partners.
Other winners of the various categories of the competition, also received three and two desktop computers,plaque and certificates respectively .
Mr.Nana Joe Mensah,the Board Chairman of KIC making presentation to one of the award winning schools
The 2024 KIC School Farm competition was held at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi on Friday, 8th November 2024.
Tamale Girls SHS lifting the trophy for winning the overall best 2024 KIC School farm of the year.
The KIC School Farm competition was originated by Blue Skies Foundation. The competition recognises schools in Ghana that demonstrate excellence in the establishment and running of a farm and gives awards to them.
This year’s KIC School Farm awards ceremony chaired by the Chief of Essuowin in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region, Nana Appiah Kyei, was under the theme: “Unveiling the next generation of agricultural leaders”.
In his brief remarks, Mr. Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, the Executive Director of KIC, said the awards ceremony was exciting.
According to him, the competition has now covered 560 schools across the country. He gave an assurance that they were working with their partners, such as Master Card Foundation, Blue Skies,the STEM unit of the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, among others, to include more schools.
Mr. Gyan-Kesse revealed that, through the support of their partners, more than 42,000 children had been trained in agricultural practices.
He, therefore, expressed their profound gratitude to teachers, headteachers, community members, etc. He said KIC believes that agriculture holds the key to the nation’s development; hence, it is committed to raising agricultural leaders for the next generation.
On his part, Nana Joe Mensah, KIC Board Chairman, commended Master Card Foundation, which has supported the competition originated by Blue Skies Foundation.
He said agriculture used to be the main backbone of the country. He, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to help the country revert to that situation so as to prepare for the future; he encouraged the youth to take a keen interest in agriculture.
In his comments, Nana Appiah Kyei revealed that Ghana remains a major importer of food products and it is highly dependent, especially on the import of rice and poultry.
“Domestic production supplies just about 70 per cent of our national food demand and nutritional needs,” he pointed out.
He said, for example, 55 per cent of the rice Ghanaians consume is imported, adding that the country produces only five per cent of the poultry meat we consume and imports 95 per cent from the Netherlands, Brazil, USA and other countries at a cost of about US 400 million per annum. “In fact, we imported about $2.6 billion of agricultural and related products in 2022 alone,” he noted.
He said despite a growing demand for processed food largely for the convenience of the growing urban and middle-income households, the share of locally processed agricultural products dropped from nearly 15 per cent in 2021 to five per cent in 2019, highlighting the existence of opportunities for expanding value addition locally.
The chief, therefore, cautioned that Ghana could expect normal population growth to drive the growth in demand for food and other agricultural products to increase food security if we do not redouble our efforts.
According to him, this is what drove Kosmos to establish the Kosmos Innovation Centre in 2016, with the a focus on driving innovation in agriculture, fuelled by local talent to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs.
