The Ghanaian international movie awards winner, a politician, an astute and a great farmer, John Dumelo has revealed that he started Farming when he was 10 years old. He said even though he was a kid by then, he had the passion to do farming which he failed at his first attempt of food production.
The multi-talented young man said he loves doing business. He has engaged in so many businesses like cosmetics, but what intrigued him into commercial farming was the idea of operating a restaurant. Later, he realized that instead of opening a restaurant he should rather farm to feed the restaurant and market women in the country.
According to the Farmer, he is now cultivating on 2000 acres of land with all kinds of food products such as cereals, roots and tubers and vegetables. He espoused the importance and economic benefits of vegetables and as a result compelled him to do vegetables.
He hinted that according to ADB data, by 2021 there would be thirty-five billion dollars (USD 35b.) importation of Food commodities in Africa and in 2025 there would be One hundred and ten billion dollars(110) food commodities imported into Africa to solve hunger strike.
He advised the youth to venture into Agriculture Sector in order to benefit from the humongous amount of 35bilion in 2021 and 110 billion dollars in 2025 respectively estimated for the importation exercise. He urged the youth to venture especially into the poultry sector because its benefits are enormous.
Spelling out some of the challenges in the sector, the farmer said that it is difficult for the youth to acquire a piece of land to farm on. In addition, he noted that the cost of production is very high especially during land preparation. Using the Northern Region as a scenario, without mincing words he succinctly said that the cost of hiring a tractor for land preparation there is dear and as a matter of fact deter most of the farmers to patronize in the tractors for ploughing and harrowing.
He pleaded to the custodians of our lands to make the lands available for the Youth to venture into Agriculture Sector. He then urged the government and the Stakeholders to set up mechanization centres to offer this assistance to the youth who have a passion for agriculture.
