The National Service Scheme (NSS) is no longer content being just a placement agency that shuffles graduates between offices for a year. Under new leadership, it’s positioning itself as a driver of youth employment and food security through an ambitious agribusiness expansion that could reshape how Ghana addresses both unemployment and its costly reliance on imported food.
Ruth Dela Seddoh, who took over as Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA) in September 2025, has laid out a vision that sounds almost audacious: channel 50,000 of the roughly 150,000 young people deployed annually under the scheme into agribusiness, not as laborers but as entrepreneurs along poultry and livestock value chains.
The scale of what’s being attempted becomes clearer when you look at the numbers. Within just eight months, the NSS has scaled its poultry capacity from 2,500 birds to over 200,000. Now the scheme aims to hit 500,000 birds by next year—300,000 broilers and 200,000 layers. That’s not incremental growth; it’s exponential ambition backed by actual infrastructure expansion.
The economic rationale is straightforward enough. Ghana spends around $600 million annually importing poultry, while domestic production covers only 30% of total consumption. Livestock like goats and cattle come mainly from Burkina Faso and Niger. Every cedi spent on imported chicken is a cedi that leaves Ghana’s economy, weakens the currency, and denies local producers market opportunities.
Seddoh argues that by expanding local production of poultry, livestock, and feed crops like maize, the NSS isn’t just providing temporary employment—it’s addressing structural dependence on imports that drains foreign exchange and undermines food sovereignty. “This shift could reduce foreign exchange pressures, strengthen the cedi, and ensure greater food sovereignty,” she said at a recent stakeholder engagement.
The scheme’s approach involves breaking down entry barriers that typically keep young graduates, particularly women, out of agriculture. By subsidizing inputs—offering broilers at GH¢70 instead of GH¢150, for instance—the NSS is making agribusiness financially accessible to people who wouldn’t otherwise have startup capital. That’s the theory, anyway.
Whether it works depends partly on execution and partly on whether the model creates sustainable entrepreneurs or just subsidized operations that collapse once government support ends. Seddoh acknowledged that the subsidized approach has raised concerns within the private sector, particularly among established producers who worry about unfair competition.
She insists there’s continuous dialogue with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), which sits on the NSS Board of Governors, to strike balance between supporting youth entry and maintaining fair market conditions. “If successful, this partnership-driven approach could create an integrated agribusiness ecosystem, where government, private sector, and development partners work together,” she explained.
That’s the optimistic scenario. The skeptical view questions whether government-led agricultural initiatives can achieve commercial viability without becoming permanent subsidy drains. Ghana has tried various agricultural interventions over decades with mixed results. What makes this different?
Seddoh’s answer centers on youth mobilization and modern framing. “This hands-on involvement in farming and agribusiness changes the perception of agriculture as a job for the aged. It reframes it as a modern, technology-driven venture that can provide dignity, income, and pathways to self-employment,” she said.
That perception shift matters because agriculture still carries stigma among educated youth who view it as backward or low-status. If the NSS can successfully rebrand agribusiness as entrepreneurial and profitable, it addresses both employment and food production simultaneously. But rebranding requires more than rhetoric—it needs actual success stories of graduates building viable businesses.
The continental implications interest Seddoh as much as the domestic impact. Across Africa, millions of young people enter job markets that can’t absorb them while food import bills climb relentlessly. A model combining mass youth mobilization, agribusiness training, subsidized entry, and value chain linkages could inspire replication elsewhere if Ghana demonstrates it works.
“The NSS vision aligns directly with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals of agricultural modernization, industrialization, and youth empowerment. By showing that agriculture can be modern, profitable, and youth-led, we are not just feeding Ghana—we are reshaping the future of African employment,” Seddoh stressed.
That continental framing might sound grandiose for a national service scheme, but it reflects growing recognition that Africa’s youth unemployment and food import dependence are linked problems requiring integrated solutions. If Ghana’s approach proves scalable, other countries facing similar challenges will pay attention.
The practical challenges are substantial. Scaling from 200,000 to 500,000 birds requires not just infrastructure but reliable feed supply chains, veterinary services, market access, and technical support for graduates who’ve never raised chickens commercially. The NSS is entering livestock rearing and maize production alongside poultry, which multiplies coordination complexity.
There’s also the question of what happens to these 50,000 young entrepreneurs after their national service year ends. Do they continue operating independently? Do they form cooperatives? Does the NSS maintain support relationships, or are they cut loose to sink or swim? Those details determine whether this creates lasting impact or just temporary activity that fizzles when participants move on.
Seddoh’s confidence suggests the NSS has thought through these challenges, though public details on implementation specifics remain limited. What’s clear is that the scheme is attempting something considerably more ambitious than traditional placement services.
For graduates facing bleak job prospects, the opportunity to learn agribusiness with subsidized inputs and technical support offers tangible alternatives to unemployment or underemployment in oversaturated sectors. For Ghana’s economy, success could mean reduced import bills, stronger currency, and a generation of agricultural entrepreneurs.
The test comes in execution. Whether the NSS can sustain momentum, navigate private sector concerns, maintain quality standards, and actually transition participants into viable businesses will determine if this represents genuine transformation or just another well-intentioned programme that looks better on paper than in practice.
Eight months of rapid scaling suggests serious commitment. Whether that commitment translates into the food security and employment outcomes Seddoh envisions remains Ghana’s experiment to watch closely.