From “Galamsey” to Green Opportunities: KIC’s Farmer Academy empowers young people

Across many parts of Ghana, especially in galamsey-prone communities, young people often face a difficult reality, i.e. limited opportunities, no stable income, and pressure to leave home in search of survival.

For years, many of them travelled to mining sites, risking their health, safety, and future in illegal small-scale mining activities known as galamsey.

Today, that story is beginning to change in some communities through the Young Farmer Business Academy (YFBA) introduced by Kosmos Innovation Center. YFBA is providing young people with a powerful alternative: the opportunity to build dignified livelihoods through agriculture.

Replacing Risk with Opportunity

The YFBA program equips young men and women with practical skills in modern farming, particularly high-value crops such as onions. Beyond farming techniques, participants also learn how to see agriculture as a business, helping them generate income, support their families, and plan for their future.

For many youth who once considered galamsey their only option, the program has opened their eyes to new possibilities. Instead of leaving their communities to face dangerous working conditions, they are now staying, farming, and earning honest incomes.

Restoring Hope and Changing Mindsets

The impact goes beyond income.

Since its inception, the YFBA Program has supported and trained about 7,594 young farmers. The program restores confidence and dignity among young people. It is helping them realize that success does not have to come at the cost of their safety or their future.

Communities that were once losing their youth to galamsey are now seeing a new generation of young farmers emerging, proud, productive, and hopeful.

Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director of Kosmos Innovation Center, emphasized the importance of creating these opportunities:

“When young people are given the right support and skills, they choose growth over risk. Through the Young Farmer Business Academy, we are not just training farmers, we are restoring hope and building futures.”

Building a Safer Future through Agriculture

By investing in young people, the YFBA program is contributing to a larger national effort, reducing youth involvement in illegal mining, promoting sustainable livelihoods, and strengthening Ghana’s food systems.

Each young person who chooses farming over galamsey represents a life redirected, a future protected, and a community strengthened.

At Kosmos Innovation Center, this is the mission, empowering youth, transforming communities, and proving that agriculture is not just farming. This is hope.

(Galamsey is a Ghanaian term used to describe illegal small-scale gold mining, typically carried out without a license and often without regard for environmental regulations)