Puzuri Group of Companies, a Ghanaian listed company referenced in agriculture, logistics, and construction, has entered into a strategic partnership with the National Service Scheme (NSS) to drive greenhouse farming activities with a substantial impact on training and grooming over 5,000 service youth personnel in agricultural practices.
At the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing at the Scheme's headquarters in Accra, the Executive Director of the Puzuri Group, Abdul-Rahaman Yahaya, stressed that it was a significant move towards advancing agricultural productivity and youth employment.
He said the partnership aims to deploy and develop national service personnel (NSP) within the agricultural sector under the framework of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) programme.
This, he indicated, would contribute to unlocking agri-enterprise opportunities in production, mechanization services, processing, e-commerce, agri-journalism, agri-influencers, agripreneurship, and youth-led digital technologies for young Ghanaians.
Diversified agenda
Mr. Abdul-Rahaman Yahaya mentioned that, through this MoU, the Puzuri Group had a target of empowering over 5,000 national service personne.
He said this fits into the Scheme’s diversified agenda and coverage of deploying service persons to the agricultural sector, where personnel, especially those from agricultural institutions, are posted to the NSS farms.
He believes that the partnership will go a long way to support import substitution, ensure food and nutritional security, and attract and retain graduate youth into greenhouse agriculture and its value chain.
He gave the assurance that no NSP would be left behind in this collaboration, stressing that Puzuri Group would work closely with NSS to make agriculture attractive to the youth and create decent employment opportunities.
Accordingly, he emphasized the readiness of his company to spearhead greenhouse farming activities, particularly in the southern sector. “We are ready to support the youth of this country in the fields with greenhouse farming activities.
Puzuri Group of Companies will do this knowing that many national service personnel (NSP) stand a chance of acquiring the requisite skillset needed for agri-entrepreneurship,” he assured.
Addressing unemployment
For his part, the Executive Director of NSS, Osei Assibey Antwi, was happy about the partnership. He stated that the Scheme was repositioning itself to become a real force to solve the unemployment challenge in the country.
He indicated that through this partnership, the skills acquired by the personnel during their service would go a long way to prepare them to establish their own businesses, or be well prepared for the job market.
“This partnership aligns with broader national development goals, including job creation, innovation in agriculture, and youth empowerment. It leverages the strengths of both organizations to provide meaningful opportunities for NSP and contribute to the overall economic growth and food security of the nation. We at NSS support this project fully,” he stressed.
He indicated the Scheme’s role in advocating the inclusion of NSP in critical projects like the HAPPY initiative.
“This collaboration extends beyond administrative leadership to operational teams,” he noted.
He lauded the initiative, and recognized its potential to catalyze transformative change, adding that the joint efforts of the Puzuri Group and NSS would set a new standard for public-private partnerships in Ghana's quest for sustainable development in the field of agriculture.
The Deputy Director in Charge of Operations at NSS, Kwaku Ohene Djan, touched on the significance of this partnership in expanding opportunities for youth across all regions.
He highlighted plans to implement greenhouse farming initiatives in the Berekum East area, particularly focusing on mentoring high school students.
The Director of Inclusion at NSS, Dr. Elizabeth L.B. Zotorvie, indicated the inclusive nature of greenhouse farming, noting its suitability for women and physically challenged persons.
Greenhouse farming
Greenhouse farming is a broad term that involves various types of sheltered structures.
This type of farming occurs in a dome or square-like structure that allows a farmer to grow crops, especially vegetables—including tomato, sweet pepper, strawberry, broccoli, cauliflower cucumber, green beans—in a controlled environment.
In the greenhouse, the farmer controls the elements of production under partial or fully controlled environmental conditions to get optimum growth and productivity.
The key elements which the farmer may control include the greenhouse temperature, the amount of light, the system of irrigation (drip or rain gun, or sprinkle), fertilizer application, and atmospheric humidity.
