The National Service Authority (NSA) has cultivated 5,000 acres of maize under the Feed Ghana initiative, marking a significant step toward enhancing national food security and reducing import dependency. With an ambitious target of expanding to 8,000 acres by 2025, the project underscores the government’s commitment to agricultural transformation and youth involvement in sustainable food production.
The update was provided by Hon. Fuseini Donkor, Deputy Director-General in charge of Operations at NSA, during a weekend tour of the Authority’s large-scale maize farm at Abotantre in the Sekyere Afram Plains District of the Ashanti Region. The project forms a core part of the Authority’s efforts to enhance national food production, reduce youth unemployment, and provide hands-on training for national service personnel in modern agricultural practices.
According to Mr. Donkor, the NSA has set a target to cultivate 8,000 acres of farmland nationwide, building on current gains in maize production. The farm at Abotantre, which spans over 20,000 acres, is the largest under NSA’s agricultural programme, with 1,000 acres already planted using scientific and mechanised farming techniques.
The mechanisation effort, he explained, is designed to ensure higher productivity and long-term sustainability, moving national service agriculture away from traditional subsistence models.
“We are training the youth to serve and to be economically empowered through agriculture. This project will go a long way to tackle unemployment, increase food production, and develop skilled agri-entrepreneurs,” Mr. Donkor said.
Beyond crop cultivation, the NSA has also laid out plans to diversify its agricultural interventions. These include the construction of a poultry feed factory and a 100,000-capacity poultry house for broiler production. These efforts are expected to strengthen the livestock value chain and further expand the Authority’s impact within the agricultural sector.
National Service Personnel (NSP) deployed to the farms will receive their usual monthly allowances, in addition to benefiting directly from the proceeds of farm produce sales, a strategy aimed at incentivising participation and retaining young talent in agriculture.
The tour was attended by Emmanuel Reagan Fynn, Ashanti Regional Director of the NSA, and Joseph Owusu, District Chief Executive of Sekyere Afram Plains. Several service personnel on-site expressed enthusiasm for the programme and its potential to transform agriculture into a viable career path for Ghana’s youth.
