School of Agriculture Shares Research Work
Some Lecturers of the School of Agriculture have shared research projects they have conducted with their colleagues and the general public.
Speaking at a seminar to share these research projects, the Dean of the School of Agriculture, Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, explained that the programme formed part of the school’s mandate of disseminating knowledge generated by faculty to the benefit of society. “We are supposed to educate - whatever we study and teach our students here. If it does not result in the benefits of the public, then, it means we have failed as a university. This is why we decided to have seminar series to discuss some of the topical issues affecting Agriculture and real situations”.
Youth Unemployment Policy in Ghana
Presenting on “the Paradox of Ghana’s Unemployment Policies; Analysis of Youth Unemployment Policies in Ghana”, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Dr. Moses Kwadwo, indicated that Ghana’s youth unemployment was due to unavailability of long-term national policy. According to him, government actually did not have a comprehensive policy to solve this problem and had only resorted to varied projects which were not properly designed to engage the youth. He further explained that these ad hoc measures have so far proved unsustainable since “a change in government also results in a change in policy”.
Addressing Youth Unemployment
In order to address this social problem, Dr. Kwadwo suggested that there should be stakeholder consultation and participation on the part of the youth when making policies. Coming from an agriculture background, Dr. Kwadwo encouraged the youth to resort to Agribusiness rather than subsistence farming.
Discovery of Orange fleshed Sweet Potato Gari
Presenting on “Orange fleshed Sweet Potato Gari and Estimated Contribution to Vitamin A Requirement” an Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Prof. Ernest Ekow Abano, highlighted on the high deficiency of ‘Vitamin A’ faced by a lot of Ghanaians and how Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) with gari could help reduce this prevalence.
Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato known locally as “Apomudzin Santom" was discovered by a team of researchers from the Department of Agricultural Engineering, UCC.
Health Benefits of Orange fleshed Sweet Potato Gari
Speaking on the health benefits of OFSP, Prof. Abano noted that “OFSP, carrot and golden rice are in the same category and contain high amount of bitter carotene which the body transforms into ‘Vitamin A’ when we eat it. Vitamin A helps in the management of health conditions such as the reduction of child mortality, reduction of infections and improvement of eye sight”.
Prof. Abano, therefore, recommended that “people should increase the intake of Vitamin A containing foods so that we can decrease this deficiency”.
The seminar was attended by students, lecturers and the general public.