Ghanaian actor John Dumelo has set his sights on establishing an agricultural enterprise that will rival the famous Darko Farms.
Owned by agriculturist Rev Dr Kwabena Darko, Darko Farms was known in the West African sub-region as the “Poultry King”.
However, Dumelo has designs on trumping that feat by making in-roads into crop production and animal husbandry in the near future.
The actor already owns a three-acre cassava farm in the Manya Krobo community in the Eastern Region which he hopes to expand to 10 acres soon.
“Look at the end of the day, when you look at advanced countries, you realize that they believe in themselves and they believe in their products. If you take America for instance you have so many corporations, people who believe in their own products and who manufacture their own products,” Dumelo told Graphic Online at the launch of Benjamin’s Hot Chocolate on Friday in Accra.
“Its about time we believe in Ghana and invest in ourselves. At the end of the day Ghana is for us, I mean if you decide to be CPP and go and live in Burkina Faso that’s the only way (to escape and not care about what happens to Ghana).
“But if you are in Ghana and you support whichever political party, at the end of the day, Ghana is for us. If you wish bad for a certain political party to fail, when you come into power you will realize that you have a lot more work to do
“I think development should just be continuous, that is why I also believe that we should have a developmental plan for Ghana whether it’s 20 years, 40 years… 60 years, so that whichever political party come, Ghana will develop in the right direction.
According to him, his acting career has taken a back seat as he concentrates a lot more of his efforts on farming.
“Now, I am more into farming as well, so I concentrate more of my time on farming… I am into cattle rearing, goat rearing, snail rearing, I am into maize as well. My maize farm is in the north, the rest is in the Eastern region, so we are doing well.”
He also explained that his farming enterprise if it turns out to be successful, will serve as an inspiration for Ghanaian youth to get involved in farming.
“That is the projection, that is my main aim… that I am able to expand and also to encourage the youth to get into agriculture…”.
