SYDA, CPMR introduces ‘Planting for Medicine and Jobs’ project.
Sunyani, March 19, 2021
The Sunyani Youth Development Association (SYDA) in collaboration with the Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR), Akuapem Mampong has introduced ‘Planting for Medicine and Jobs (PfMJs)’ project as lucrative business avenue in the agricultural sector to reduce unemployment.
The PfMJs project aimed at mobilizing unemployed and interested young men and women to cultivate Medicinal Plants and prepare the produce to meet required international standard that could feed the plant medicine industry under the Ghana Health Service and exportation.
It was at the second edition of SYDA’s Annual Youth Employment forum held on Saturday in Sunyani, designed to create a platform through which opportunities would be explored to address unemployment issues in possible but unseen areas.
The 2022 program forum seeks to explore other possibilities in the agricultural sector, hence the PfMJs initiative to augment the government’s “Youth in Innovative Agric” policy.
Interestingly, more than 47 young men and women registered for the project and still counting.
Dr. Kofi Bobi Barimah, the Acting Executive Director of the CPMR, the special guest, in his address emphasized that cultivation of medicinal plants was a lucrative business with potential to widen and strengthen the nation’s economic growth as well as foreign exchange earnings.
He said over 55 major Hospitals in Ghana including the Sunyani Regional Hospital were prescribing herbal medicine and the government was considering putting recommended herbal medicines on the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Dr. Barimah stated the Medicinal Plants cultivation venture has value-chain employment opportunities, therefore implored the youth regardless of educational background to enter the area for jobs and economic prospects.
Mr. Atta Akoto Senior, President of SYDA earlier in his welcome address said the Association believes that to harness the full benefits of Herbal Medicine practices was an intervention in Ghana’s Health Care Delivery System, therefore inappropriate to rely on default plantation of shrubs through nature’s own means.
He said consciously planting the herbs with medicinal qualities needed would open a lot of employment opportunities to sustain livelihood.
Mr. Akoto pleaded with government to funding, logistics and technical support to motivate many youth to engage in the herbal plant farming.
SYDA