Blue Skies School Farm Competition – 2018

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Blue Skies is one of the largest fruit juice producing companies in Ghana and they have been undergoing a project with the name Blue Skies School farm competition for basic schools and Senior High Schools.

The public relations officer for Blue Skies Mr Alister Djimatey explained that, the main reason for the project is to change the mindset of Ghanaian youth about agriculture and its benefits to the country. The fact that Ghanaians especially the youth are only interested in white colour jobs is very warring and Blue Skies believe that our economy is going to be far better when the youth involves themselves in Agriculture.

Their major initiative to bring back the school farm idea which is reflecting academically as several schools have attempted going into farming, a typical example is the Yilo Krobo Senior High School and the likes who are now taking part in full scale farming. The initiative to also bring out hidden talents in students is also making a major headway as students who have completed Junior High Schools are now able to farm to pay their fees and take care of themselves as well, whilst those who have completed Senior High Schools have graduated to go into farming seeing the opportunities in the sector, he added.

 

According to him there is a committee set up purposely for the selection of schools that will participate in the competition. The forms are available on their website. There is no particular qualification but any school that has a plot of land to cultivate on it for example 50 by 50 or 100 by 100 plot and is interested in going into farming can apply. They will provide the necessary materials such as cutlass, hoes, rakes, spraying machines, and the likes to them.

It started with schools in Dangme West in the Greater Accra Region, Eastern region, Volta Region, Central Region and the ‘Ashanti Region’ which is being included this year. Schools that have participated and couldn’t win can reapply based on their performance in the previous year, he was quick to add.

Prices such as Computers, Farming materials and the like have been awarded over the years to schools such as Krobo Girls Senior High who won last year, Christian High Senior High School who won two years ago and Manya Krobo Senior high who also won the first edition. They are however looking forward to add a trip abroad as part of the package.

Even though Mr Djimatey agreed they had one or two companies like Cosmos Energy coming on board to help, they still want more NGOs and government to come on board and support this wonderful project.

“We are aware that government has a lot of initiatives concerning the Agric sector, we believe strongly that bringing back Agriculture Science as a pre-examinable subject is really going to help. At least students should understand where the food they eat comes from, how they are grown and when to harvest it. As a country that is struggling to feed ourselves, we seek to educate and make our future leaders understand the benefits and opportunities in the sector” He added.

By: Ghana| Radio1 News