As part of activities marking the 15th anniversary of the establishment of one of Ghana’s leading English radio brands, Citi FM, Managing Director of the company, Samuel Attah-Mensah, has announced a new project to get Ghanaians to take up subsistence farming, and also consider it as a viable business that can empower them economically.
The project will include an on-air education on both Citi 97.3 FM and Citi TV, as well as knowledge sharing through the creation of synergies between research institutions, input suppliers, government agencies, individuals and off-takers.
The project, dubbed ‘Operation Feed Yourself’, is culled from the namesake famous agricultural program administered in Ghana under military general and head-of-state Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
The program was aimed at increasing levels of food crops produced in Ghana for domestic consumption.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Samuel Attah-Mensah said the main objective behind the introduction of the campaign was to revitalize the spirit of farming and agribusiness in Ghanaians.
“We are starting something we have borrowed from the Kutu Acheampong-era called Operation Feed Yourself. So, we would just revive the spirit of Operation Feed Yourself. It is a backroom leadership – making sure we are able to drive people to reignite interest in agriculture”.
“And we are talking about people who are not farmers; we are saying that middle-income earners, urban dwellers, students, people who are domiciled in Accra or other urban areas, we think that it is time to look at agriculture as a means of generating revenue to complement your salary and just to feed yourself,” Mr. Attah-Mensah noted.
The recent shut down of the Nigeria-Benin border with its attendant problems felt even in Ghana, Mr. Attah-Mensah said it provides enough justification for Ghanaians to take up agriculture as a means of safeguarding their own food security.
He said there are enormous opportunities within the agricultural value-chain that Citi FM and Citi TV will leverage its resources to help people who desire to explore.
The first major event for #OperationFeedYourself comes off on December 7, 2019, at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.
To register for the event, click here or call 0558973973.
The event will be an agribusiness forum and a fair that will feature various resource persons in agribusiness.
The forum will prepare participants to enable them to start their agribusiness journeys.
The fair shall also have various consultants, agencies, institutions and agribusiness firms to assist participants to plug into the agribusiness industry and the opportunities within.
#OperationFeedYourself will provide the needed avenue for Ghanaians to be self-sufficient and reduce the reliance on imports to sustain the populace.
It is expected that the project would result in abundant food for local consumption and processing, job creation and opportunities for import substitution as well as making the sector attractive again.
