Minister for Food and Agriculture Bryan Acheampong has hinted that President Akufo Addo will in this month of July launch the second phase of Planting for food and Jobs (PFJ).
According to him, the second phase of the program with a five year plan will focus on large scale farming with minimum of 5 acres.
He said this will help achieve the objective of the program which is food security.
Bryan Acheampong said this during interview with local journalists from major radio stations in Kwahu in Eastern region dubbed “The Big Interview”.
“President and National house of chiefs are going to meet to plead with them allocated and designate lands as commercial farming areas for Ghana. That is the only way we can measure our production.Therefore we encourage everybody to now begin to look for land minimum 5 acres .We are moving away from one acre mixed farming .Look for a minimum 5 acres and you will get a direct support from fertilizer supplier and improved seeds and mechanization services in the new program the president will launch in July and it is going to transform the landscape of agriculture”.Bryan Acheampong said.
He said there are some interventions that the second phase of the program will come along with.These include mechanization and technical support ,insurance package and ready market for farmers.
He explained that ,ten crops and poultry products under the program have been listed to be purchased by Ghana Commodities Exchange company
“When you into large scale commercial farming all these factors (insurance) come to play.With the new system whatever you produce Ghana Commodities Exchange will buy.We are focusing on ten crops and poultry to revive it With these ten crops and poultry whatever you produce Ghana Commodities Exchange will buy. Under the new input credit system to come, there will be a lot of public sensitization”.
Bryan Acheampong said, farming is lucrative venture but needs to be attractive to the youth .Therefore the ministry is going to focus on smart agriculture where machineries are provided and irrigation facilities expanded .
“We need to change the way we do agriculture to make it attractive.The days where we use whole and cutlass with manpower to do farm are over ” He said.
Planting for Food and Jobs was introduced in 2018 however did not led to the achievement of food security despite government’s huge investment.
Member of Parliament for Keta, Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey, criticised this flagship as a failure.
He said, “the country is not deriving the desired benefits from it. Our poultry farmers are suffering. 70% of the component of poultry feed is maize and 10% is soya and companies are in Ghana processing soya and adding value for various products and here we are, the companies are not able to get the raw materials to produce for exports as well as to feed the local industry and it’s the same soya that we are using to feed our poultry. Our poultry farms are now on the verge of collapse,” he lamented.
Mr Gakpey was disappointed that though the initiative has been implemented and is running, the country still imports foods and raw materials which can be locally produced.
“Last year the Ministry bought yellow corn, 600 metric tonnes into the country. Meanwhile, the planting for food policy is working and it is so sad that projects that we’re to do to enhance agriculture in the country are not yielding the necessary impact.
He, thus, emphasised that “the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is a failure and we need to revisit the policy, because our companies and factories are suffering and companies are willing to add value but the raw materials are nowhere to be found”.
Source:Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
