NC State Graduate Cultivates Ag Education in Ghana

Growing up in the close-knit town of Wendell, North Carolina, Emma Cannon saw the impact the agricultural industry had on her neighbors and community. Now, she’s putting her NC State University degree in agricultural science to work to promote food security and agricultural education in Ghana.

As an AgriCorps Fellow, Cannon will spend the next 11 months in the small community of Obooho in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She’s serving as an agriculture teacher at the community’s junior high school. And when she’s not in the classroom, she’s helping build the 4-H club and the students’ leadership skills and acting as an extension agent for nearby farmers.

“The students I will work with are the next generation of leaders, farmers, entrepreneurs and citizens of their communities and country. It is not me who will bring about positive change, but the students and farmers who will hopefully find that positive passion within themselves and ignite a whole nation of growth,” Cannon said.

AgriCorps, a non-profit based in the United States, sends young Americans into developing countries to share the agricultural education models of 4-H and the Future Farmers of America that transformed American agriculture over the past century. Cannon said she saw the impact this model could have on the world when she took part in FFA and agricultural education in school.

This year Cannon joins eleven other Fellows serving in Ghana and Liberia. On the ground, AgriCorps partners with 4-H Ghana to provide support and the exchanging of ideas to increase awareness of agricultural education and improve the capacity of existing 4-H clubs.

— Staff Report