HAPPY Program

A comprehensive training session on meat processing, food safety, and biosecurity was held at the Aglow Poultry Processing Facility for participants of the HAPPY Broiler Project. The training aimed to equip them with scientific knowledge and skills essential for their roles within the facility.

In just one year, the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program has become a beacon of hope for thousands of young Ghanaians, proving that agriculture can be a transformative career path.
 
Rolled out in December 2023, this four-year initiative by the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited and a consortium of eight partners has facilitated dignified, fulfilling work opportunities for over 94,000 young people across Ghana’s agricultural sector within a year. 

The staff of Agri-Impact Limited recently conducted a field trip to several communities participating in the HAPPY Program across the country. The purpose of the trip was to monitor the program's progress and gather valuable feedback for review and improvement.

The visit focused on assessing the impact of the project in selected Catholic Relief Services (CRS) project communities, including Kpulgini, Kulguduli, Wapuli, and Garimata Northern Region with particular attention to input quality, distribution effectiveness, and overall project success.

As a young Ghanaian with a passion for agriculture and a fresh degree in Agricultural Biotechnology, I am incredibly inspired by the HAPPY (Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth) Program. This program has provided thousands of youth with dignified work opportunities across four value chains: rice, poultry, tomato, and soybean, within the agribusiness space.

The consortium implementing the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity (HAPPY) Program celebrated rural women last week at Challu in the Sissala East Municipality, Upper West Region, as part of the International Day of Rural Women. The event honoured the vital contributions of rural women to Ghana’s agricultural sector.

The Annual HAPPY Learning Event took place last week in Sunyani, Bono Region, to review the first-year achievements and challenges of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program.

A partnership between the Mastercard Foundation, Agri-Impact Limited, and eight other partners, the HAPPY Program aims to create dignified jobs for 326,000 young Ghanaians—70% of whom are women and persons with disabilities—across the poultry, tomatoes, rice, and soybean value chains.

Priscilla Arthur, a young woman with a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Procurement and Supply Chain, has secured a position as a stock officer through the Mastercard Foundation’s Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program, in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited.

Under the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) program, Agri-Impact Limited, has partnered with the Ghana National Service Scheme (NSS) and Directorate of Crop Services (DCS) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to boost tomato production in the Agogo and Kumawu districts of the Ashanti Region.

NSS, DCS and Agri-Impact Limited, are helping young farmers to set up nursery enterprises and providing technical support, with the goal of creating over 2,000 dignified and fulfilling jobs by the end of September 2024 along the tomato value chain.

A joint team from the Mastercard Foundation and Agri-Impact Limited visited implementation sites of the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program in Bono, Ashanti, and Greater Accra regions in September 2024.

In Sunyani, Bono Region, the team toured NAPLE Betta’s plant, an anchor partner that supplies poultry feed for the HAPPY Broilers program.

The CEO of Yedent Agro Group of Companies and NAPLE Betta Farms, Samuel Ntim, has praised the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program for its vital role in revitalizing Ghana's poultry sector, especially broiler production.
 
According to Ntim, the HAPPY Program—a Mastercard Foundation initiative in partnership with leading agribusiness firm Agri-Impact Limited—has, for the first time, enabled consistent broiler production for the Ghanaian market. Previously, the country relied heavily on imports to meet its growing demand for poultry.