Agriculture Holds the Key to Job Creation-Akufo Addo

The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo says the creation of jobs for the teaming youth of this country will initially come the Agricultural sector.

President Akufo-Addo said his believe in agriculture and food processing as a basis for the country's industrial take-off had been reinforced by the many suggestions for the 'One District One Factory' initiative which is predominantly agriculture based, adding that the greatest challenge the country faced was the creation of jobs.

He said as young people were very anxious about not finding jobs, their parents were even more anxious about the future of their children after seeing them through school.

He was speaking during his first media encounter, since his assumption of office as President, at the Presidency in Accra, yesterday.

He noted that he was fully aware that the success or otherwise of his administration would be judged largely on job creation.

Responding to the policy of Planting for Food and Jobs, one of the President's flagship initiatives, he disclosed that the initiative had also started with increasing enthusiasm. He said the Programme had registered 185,000 farmers out of the 200,000 targeted and that government was bearing 50% of the cost of fertilizer for farmers while eighty thousand and thirty seven (80,037) tonnes of fertilizer had been distributed to farmers enrolled on the programme. He said thirty five thousand seven hundred and forty seven (35,747) metric tonnes of seedlings have also been supplied to farmers.

On galamsey, President Akuffo Addo noted that even though Ghanaians were blessed with land and mineral resources and had the right to exploit it, government had the responsibility to protect and not destroy the land and river bodies.

He was grateful that majority of Ghanaians had recognized the dangers posed by the practice of galamsey and that his government would not relent in the fight against illegal mining.

"This government isn't against mining or the Chinese; we are against the degradation of our land and water, he said" adding I will not go back on the promise to fight galamsey.

Source: ISD (Rex Mainoo Yeboah)

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