Govt Spends Gh?157m On 'Planting for Food & Jobs' Campaign - Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto

The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has revealed that government has so far spent an amount of GH?157,023,174.00 on its 'Planting for Food and Jobs' campaign.

According to him, out of the amount, GH?24,963,981.00 was spent on seeds whilst GH?132,059,193.00 was spent on fertilizer and haulage.

The amount, he said, was spent on the campaign for the major season in the Southern Sector and the three northern regions.

Dr. Akoto revealed this on Thursday when he appeared before Parliament to answer a question, which was posed by Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo North, Hon. Eric Opoku, on the expenditure, participation and status of the 'Planting for Food and Jobs Program.'

He told the House that distribution of inputs to all districts in the southern sector for the major season cropping was completed while the distribution of inputs in the northern sector was near completion.

He said 188,338 farmers have been registered out of which 34,000 have been captured electronically by ESOKO.

He mentioned inadequate domestic supply of seeds, unavailability of farmer database, inadequate extension officers and vehicles and the recent fall army worm invasion as some challenges affecting the project but assured that plans had been put in place to address them.

The 'Planting for Food and Jobs Program' was officially launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region on April 19, 2017 after it had been unveiled by Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto on January 9, 2017, at the New Year School of the University of Ghana.

The project seeks to transform the agriculture sector by increasing the productivity of farm resources centered on small holding activities to provide job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth and to provide raw materials for industry.

The project focuses on four key staple food and vegetables commonly grown in the country. These are maize, rice, soya bean and sorghum, tomato, onion and pepper.

The campaign has five main pillars of intervention namely; the provision of seed, fertilizer, extension services, marketing and e-agriculture platform.

Under the campaign, selected farmers are supported with farm inputs such as improved seeds of the targeted crops, fertilizers and extension services directly from the ministry whilst other pillars are to be implemented with the private sector partners.

Source: ISD (Gilbert Ankrah)

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