ONE hundred and fifty youth have completed a training course in organic farming at Osino.
The course was organised and funded by the SOS Children’s Village, Asiakwa through its Farming and Livelihood Improvement Programme (FLIP).
The youth comprised 120 children between the ages of 12 and 18, who formed the Organic Junior Farmer Field and Life School (OJFFLS) group, and 30 youngsters between the ages of 18 and 25 who belong to the Senior Youth in Organic Agriculture (Organic Farmer Field School).
All of them were drawn from four towns — Asiakwa, Sagyimase and Bunso in the East Akyem Municipality and Osino in the Fanteakwa District.
The ceremony was attended by some traditional rulers and officials from various organisations including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Ghana Organic Agriculture Network (GOAN).
In his report, the Project Officer of FLIP, Mr George Yaw Boateng, said the rationale behind the training programme was to enable the schoolchildren to develop interest in organic farming at their tender ages and the youth to generate income for their livelihood.
He said a similar number of participants went through the same training programme last year and that more of such programmes would be organised in due course.
Apart from that, Mr Boateng said, the SOS Children’s Village had also come up with another initiative, the Family Strengthening Programme, which, according to him, was to give maximum assistance to children to prevent them from falling out of their families and communities.
He explained that vulnerable children were the main target group and primary beneficiaries while the care-givers had been included as secondary beneficiaries to develop their capacity to protect and care for their children.
Later, leaders of the children and youth groups told the gathering that their training in organic farming would impact positively on them and expressed their appreciation to the Asiakwa SOS Children’s Village for organising the programme.
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