[ 2017-02-22 ]

‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ to begin with GHc 560m cost
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government’s
flagship agriculture policy, “Planting for Food
and Jobs” will begin with a cost GHc 560
million.

This is according to the Minister for Agriculture,
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who said 200,000 farmers
have already been recruited for the exercise which
is expected to take off in March 2017, ahead of
the new farming season.

Dr. Afriyie Akoto announced this policy at the
annual New Year School and Conference of the
University of Ghana earlier in 2017 and speaking
to Citi News, he said a lot more farmers will be
roped into the programme as it develops.

GHc 1.3 bn to be generated for farmers

He said the policy was “going to generate GHc
1.3 billion for the participating farmers and also
create 750,000 jobs and this is involving maize,
rice, soya, sorghum and vegetable [cultivation]
for the first year.”

“In 2018, we are going to expand this. Don’t
forget we have five million farmers and fishermen
in this country. We have started with 200,000 as a
pilot and in 2018, we are going to expand this
program considerably to involve nearly a million
farmers.”

Dr. Afriyie Akoto has said the “Planting for
Food and Jobs” campaign is designed to encourage
citizens, both urban and rural, to take up farming
as a full time and part time activity.

It has been structured along the lines of the
“Operation Feed Yourself” programme from the
1970s.

The Operation Feed Yourself campaign was launched
in 1972 to make Ghana self-sufficient in food
supply though it encountered significant
shortcomings. But the government, however,
believes the objectives of the Operation Feed
Yourself campaign will be revived through the new
campaign.

Though the “Planting for Food and Jobs” pilot
only involves the cultivation of rice, soya beans,
sorghum and vegetables, other crops will be
adopted in subsequent years.

Source - citifmonline.com

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