Born in Abasua, a small community in the Sekyere Central, Ashanti Region, Margaret Afriyie grew up in Kronum- Afrancho, Kumasi. She was very creative as a child especially in needle works (sewing and crocheting) and had always had the desire to be a nurse.
Completing her secondary school education at Adventist Day Senior High School in Bantama, Margaret continued on to the Mampong Nursing and Midwifery Training College where she studied to become a professional and certified Midwife.
After school, Margaret ventured into providing mother care assistance for the mothers in the community who were mostly farmers. She developed an interest in farming when one of her clients introduced her to cabbage farming.Though, she and her brothers owned a plantain farm, she had never developed interest in farming until this point.
Margaret started off with a cabbage farm and employs over thirty women from the community to assist her during the time of harvest. Currently, she has added maize farming as well.
Joining Miss Agriculture was inspired by the push of friends and family and her desire to prove to the world that agriculture is not a dead-end career for those living in deprived communities.
When she met major agriculture students and extension officers as part of the competition, she was urged to work hard on her project and push further to win the title.
“Being crowned Miss Agriculture 2019 came as a surprise to me but it also proved that one could be a professional and farmer at the same time” she remarked.
As beauty queen, Margaret is embarking on advocating against the abuse of agrochemicals usage by farmers.
When asked if she had to drop one career and just pursue one which she would choose, Margaret had a hard choice at choosing. “I love both my careers, it would be difficult to drop one and just pursue one, and after all we need both the midwife and farmer” she said in response.
Speaking on what the future in farming holds for Ghana, Margaret said “agriculture is the future for Ghana and Africa, we should be able to produce, buy, eat, wear and export Ghana”
Summing up our interview with Margaret, she had this advice for the youth “ the Bible says you have to work hard before you get something to eat, farming is just like every other work, it is ‘More Profitable than Gold, less Capital needed’, I urge every youth to get a copy of that book to read”.
Source: medium.com
