Thursday, 12th March, 2026
Hon Eric Edem Agbana
Ketu North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to make this Statement on the need to upgrade the Ohawu Agricultural College into a fullyfledged agricultural university.
Mr Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of this House to the strategic national importance and urgent development needs of Ohawu Agricultural College, one of the six agriculture-focused institutions of higher learning in Ghana. Established in 1965, Ohawu Agricultural College remains the only agricultural college serving the Volta and Oti Regions and is one of five national agricultural colleges under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. For nearly six decades, it has trained the backbone of Ghana’s middle-level agricultural workforce. Its graduates serve as agricultural extension officers, field technicians, livestock specialists, and agribusiness practitioners who support food security, livestock development, and rural livelihoods across the country.
Mr Speaker, the college is not only historically significant; it is strategically placed for expansion and modernisation. It occupies over 450 hectares of land and maintains a dedicated staff of 44 serving a student population of 310. The chiefs and people of Afife have further demonstrated community commitment by expressing readiness to provide additional land to support its growth.
The institution currently offers certificate, diploma, and HND programmes in General Agriculture and Animal Health and Production, in partnership with the University of Cape Coast and respected international development partners including the Kosmos Innovation Centre, the World Food Programme, and the World University Service of Canada. These partnerships signal clear academic maturity and readiness for elevation.
Notwithstanding this potential, Mr Speaker, the college faces persistent challenges that undermine its mandate. Water supply is inadequate. Lighting and internet connectivity remain insufficient. Staff accommodation and student housing are limited. Lecture halls and furniture are inadequate to support increasing academic demands.
In a period defined by digital agriculture, research-led innovation, and global competitiveness, such deficits directly constrain academic excellence, research output, and institutional attractiveness. Mr Speaker, Ghana cannot continue to under-utilise a facility of this strategic value. Upgrading Ohawu Agricultural College into a fully-fledged agricultural university is not a ceremonial gesture or political token. It is a forward-looking investment in our food security systems, agribusiness competitiveness, and technological preparedness.
A university at Ohawu will anchor research in agritechnology, climate-smart agriculture, seed development, livestock improvement, mechanisation, and valueaddition. It will strengthen the human capital base required for an agricultureled, 24-hour productive economy. As the Member of Parliament for the host constituency, I can attest that the economic multiplier effects will be transformative. University status will expand admissions, attract high-calibre faculty, and stimulate long-term infrastructure development. It will boost transport services, housing, hospitality, commerce, and agro-processing across Ohawu, Abor, Akatsi, and the wider Southern Volta corridor. It will create meaningful opportunities for young people, enhance entrepreneurship, and position Southern Volta as a centre of agribusiness excellence.
Mr Speaker, the vision is clear, the community is aligned, and the opportunity is ripe. Government’s stated commitment to upgrading Ohawu Agricultural College must now be accelerated. If we are serious about building a competitive agricultural economy, driving rural industrialisation, and empowering the next generation of producers and innovators, then this upgrade is essential—not optional.
I therefore respectfully urge the Ministries of Education and Food and Agriculture to expedite the policy, accreditation, and infrastructural processes required to elevate Ohawu Agricultural College to university status. This House must treat this matter as a national development imperative. A stronger agricultural future for Ghana begins with stronger agricultural institutions. I so submit.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Fred Kyei Asamoah
Offinso North
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to also thank the maker of the Statement regarding Ohawu Agricultural College.
Mr Speaker, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government helped pass the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023). One would realise that all the agricultural colleges that we have in this country were to be realigned to the Ministry of Education, which I believe is a good policy because that is the Ministry responsible for education and training.
We also recognise the specialised nature of agriculture, but the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is supposed to be the sector policy leader and as such, what the NPP Government started: we have the Kwadaso Agricultural College in Kumasi; Ejura Agricultural College; Damango Agricultural College; Ohawu Agricultural College and the Animal Health and Production College.
Mr Speaker, so Ohawu is not the only agricultural college we need to look at. We need to make sure that we follow up with the policies that were initiated by the previous governments and bring it to fruition. So now, as far as I am concerned, the realignment of these agricultural colleges to the Ministry of Education has not been completed. So, before we even think about upgrading an institution to a higher education status like a university or a new school, we should first look at the realignment to ensure that this realignment happens, and it does not only happen for one college of agriculture, but all five colleges that were part of the Act 1023.
Mr Speaker, the upgrading of institutions is very important, because we know agriculture employs more people in this country, but it does not reflect in its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). So, giving people advanced training in agriculture is something that can improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of its contribution to GDP. And also, it can help us advance, because we are in a technological world where things are changing.
How do we even use digital systems to manage our farms? And how do we ensure that we have enough extension officers to support our cocoa farmers? Even though our cocoa farmers are bleeding, as a nation, how do we get enough extension officers so that most youth in this country can see agriculture as one of the attractive occupations, or appealing enough to attract more young men and women to be in that sector and to be employed as well?
Mr Speaker, unemployment is one of the challenges that we are facing in this country. But upgrading institutions to higher education requires committing to infrastructure. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government had initiated the construction of an institution at Bunso for agriculture and engineering. I believe we are going to complete it. Upgrading institutions comes with a lot of commitment, and the Government should make resources available, because some of the schools that have been upgraded to a university status, unfortunately, are not being given the needed resources to function as a higher education institution.
We also have some institutions that have already been established. The NPP Government constructed the Local Government University infrastructure, one which is located in Akomadan, another in Tamale, and one in Accra.
Mr Speaker, because the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs is not into the business of education, it tends to lack. So, this House should relook at the issue of ministries that are not in the business of education running institutions, no matter how specialised in nature the school is, so that this realignment can be done.
The Government can commit proper infrastructure investment as well as human capital investment into these institutions. Of course, if we have to upgrade, in that case, the Government has initiated increasing our gross tertiary enrolment ratio. This will be one of the opportunities that we can use to increase our gross tertiary enrolment ratio to also—
Hon Ebenezer Alumire Ndebilla
Zebilla
Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Statement ably delivered by my Colleague, Hon Eric Agbana.
Agricultural colleges in our country play a very key role in the agricultural sector as far as knowledge sharing is concerned. And to achieve food security in the country, we have to take technology very seriously, in which the agricultural colleges play a very key role. However, if we go to most of the colleges, what we see there is very pathetic. Most of the institutions do not even have the practical demonstration fields where students can actually acquire the needed knowledge or skills that are expected of them to be able to deliver services to our teeming farmers. And that is very unfortunate. Meanwhile, these colleges provide practical training to the graduates who attend these institutions.
So, Mr Speaker, I strongly support that not only should we or the Government consider upgrading the Ohawu Agricultural College to a fully-fledged university, but also other agricultural institutions in the country that are running various courses that support our agricultural subsector. So, I rise to support my Colleague and pray that the Government takes this very seriously.
Once these institutions provide the needed knowledge that our farmers so much desire, we should, as a matter of urgency, support the institutions with the needed logistics and upgrades so that they can provide the best of services to our graduates who are churned out of these institutions, so that they can provide best services to our farmers to promote agricultural production in the country.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin
Effutu
Mr Speaker, let me first commend my Colleague for this bold initiative, bringing an important matter of this nature to this House.
Mr Speaker, I have had the privilege of reading this Statement. He brought me a copy, and particularly in paragraph four of the Statement, he takes time to explain to us the challenges facing the institution. Whatever he said there are facts. My biological dad attended this school. He was one of the early students who studied at Ohawu Agricultural College. He is an agri-mechanic, and he said a lot to me about this school. I know this school, because any time I go to the Volta Region, I use that route to Ho. The last time I visited Hon Agbana’s constituency, we drove past that place.
Mr Speaker, we are moving into an era of AI-driven agriculture. It is sad that in the whole of Ghana, we do not have any public university training our children on artificial intelligence (AI). There is no first-degree programme or a master’s programme that is powered by AI. We appear to be far away from the advancement that others are experiencing in our world today. So, the call to upgrade this institution to a university is the right call, especially coming from a Member of Parliament from the Volta Region. I think that those of us who have leanings— He is from the Volta Region. His constituency is in the region.
Mr Speaker, grammar is not easy. No, that is where I come from, actually. My grandmother comes from Brofoyedru. I think that those of us who are coming from the Volta and Oti Regions should take this very seriously. And beyond this Statement, come together and present a paper, not only to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, but to the Ministry of Education. Because if there should be an upgrade to a university status, the right path is the Ministry of Education. Fortunately, the Hon Member for Akatsi North is the chair of the Committee on Education. So, in Fante, we will say, ɛti fufu ma atᴐ n’kwan nu mu.
Mr Speaker, if that one, I want to say it in Ewe, Mr Speaker, then I would have to do a sign Mr Speaker, there will be a better day for me tomorrow. No problem. In other words, it is an opportune time for Members from that part of the region to make a strong case because the agricultural potential in the Volta Region is enormous, but we have not fully explored it and farmers have not received the needed support. I am sure back in the days, this institution was established to support farmers, train technicians and train extension officers to help the farmers.
My Daddy tells me about how, in the early days, they had some Germans coming to teach them and how they were prepared for industry and the training they were given abroad — Leaders have more than five minutes. I think my microphone is off. Mr Speaker, I know about this institution and I do not want this to be one of the Statements that we make on the Floor and we just end it there.
Mr Speaker, when this university is established, it is not only going to train students but it is also going to open the economy in that part of the Volta Region. We have a Minister for Roads and Highways from the Volta Region; we have the Minister for Foreign Affairs from the Volta Region and we have the Majority Chief Whip from there.
Mr Speaker, it is an opportunity. This Statement must not be taken as just a two-pager Statement. It is a major door opener for the economy in the Volta Region. Not only agriculture, but also, it will affect the entire value chain; animal husbandry, food production and create opportunities for the youth. Mr Speaker, many times, we talk about job creation and it becomes mere political talk. This is a practical job creation opportunity we must embrace so that people will not begin to look elsewhere because in that part of Ghana, people still farm without using fertiliser. Proper organic farming takes place there and part of Europe today, people desire organically grown farm produce and they pay premium for it. So, we have to take advantage. Enough of the talk; we have to take advantage.
So, Mr Speaker, we should not take it for granted. I will give him my support, but in opposition, we can only say but we cannot do. So, for those of them who are in Government, they have the capability of doing the do. Fortunately, some of their Leaders are in Cabinet; take advantage. They may not have this opportunity again tomorrow. They should prove to the people of the Volta Region and the Oti Region that they sent them into this Chamber, they spotted an opportunity and took advantage of it. And that would have a positive effect on the whole national economy, so that when I come back home, I will come proudly that when the time came, I contributed for this to be considered.
Mr Speaker, that said, let me thank Mr Edem Agbana for bringing this to our attention and may this never be kept under any desk. It should go to the Ministry so that action is taken. The President must be informed about this so that Cabinet takes steps quickly to deal with this, for the people of Volta Region to also benefit. Mr Speaker, that said, let me thank you.
Hon Worlase Kpeli
Kwahu Afram Plains
Thank you, Mr Speaker, thanks to the Majority Chief Whip for giving me the opportunity to stand in his stead to make a comment on the Statement ably made by Hon Eric Edem Agbana on the upgrading of the Ohawu Agriculture College into a fullfledged university.
Mr Speaker, I would like to take the angle of specificity and special training for the growth of the economy of Ghana. As a Member of Parliament, whenever we have discussion on the Floor about growing the economy of Ghana in terms of human resources and human power, what baffles my mind is how specific we are in making the efforts to put specialised training that is needed to grow our economy and this is one of the typical examples, like the Ohawu Agricultural College.
In the centre of Ghana’s development now, the 24-Hour Economy is agriculture and agribusiness and that is what the Minority Leader has ably stressed on, that in the midst of the 24- Hour Economy and its authority and growth, putting a college like Ohawu Agricultural College into the concept of training specific skill-acquired manpower in agriculture, industrialisation and animal production will be the best to carry Ghana’s economy in the space of agriculture and agribusiness.
Many of these colleges are scattered around the country, but we keep looking for the specialised skills to harness these efforts in putting Ghana on the highest pedestal of being specialised in some fields, especially in agriculture. Even in the backyard of Ohawu, in my constituency, Afram Plains, the Russians and the Japanese helped us to build a fisheries college, which we called Amankwakrom Fisheries and Agricultural Training Institute (AFATI). But all these colleges have been mixed up with other skills so much that the very specific idea for which those colleges were established is no longer in place.
We all have the specialties we need to grow our economy but we have them in general knowledge for which we do not have the specific training that will bring out the technicalities that we need in every field. It is recommended that the Member’s Statement be adopted by the House and transmitted, as suggested by the Minority Leader, to Cabinet and the President for consideration and upliftment of the Ohawu Agricultural College into a fullyfledged university.
Hon Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor
South Dayi
Mr Speaker, with the Ohawu Agriculture College, I recall that the former Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon Dr Afriyie Akoto, had a policy of upgrading it. I personally saw the programme here, but it may not have been carried through. So, I am very happy that Mr Edem Agbana is raising the matter. Mr Speaker, in the entire enclave, apart from the Akatsi College of Education, which is in the capital of the First Deputy Speaker in Akatsi South, there is no other tertiary institution in the entire of the southern Volta Region.
Meanwhile, education came to Keta as far back as 1869. So, it is important that a certain tertiary institution of some repute be established. This should kick-start that process. I am very happy that this can be done. I believe that this is one of the Statements that if Mr Speaker may be minded can be referred to the Committee on Education for them to look at it and bring a Report for purposes of giving some direction regarding elevating the College into a tertiary status, with its consequential effect on the lives of the young people in the area. It will also become a formal institution for training persons in the agricultural sector, especially Extension Officers and all that. So, we can replicate what we have in Akrokeri and Akumadan, Kwadaso and Ejura so that it can be replicated. So that they can be elevated into full blown tertiary institutions.
Mr Speaker, I am in full support of the call to have this done. I thank you for the opportunity.
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