The district chief executive for Banda, Hon. Akoneh Emmanuel has exalted the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative by the government.
He said the policy has attained its purpose since it was started by the Akufo-Addo government in 2017.
According to the DCE, the success of the planting for food and jobs was due to the bonafide initiative to the improvement in Ghana’s agriculture sector.
He added that the implementation of the initiative has positively impacted and increased food security in the country, saying, there is no food shortage in Ghana as employment has erupted along the agricultural value chains and has contributed to increased crop yield for major food staples such as rice, maize and soya.
Speaking to Appiah-Kubi in an exclusive interview, the chief executive stated that the impact of the policy on Ghanaians attitude toward farming and agriculture, in general, is immeasurable.
Some of the challenges he expressed were, the awareness of the availability of the farming inputs to the communities were very low, there were no wholesale planting for food and jobs farming inputs in the various districts, no proper monitoring whereas some farmers collect the farm inputs and sell them.
“Some farmers consider their transportation to the towns from their villages due to probability of same prices of the farm inputs, most of the farmers too prefer the local farming than the modern ones, no extension services were available in the smaller communities, so these challenges are going to be addressed to abate the PFJ program”, he reiterated.
Opening on the launch of the second face, Hon. Akoneh said the PFJ impact is changing the psychology and attitude of people towards agriculture, but there are challenges which the government is putting a value on.
On the part of the phase II launch, he stated, “in a comprehensive review of the PFJ, the government is finalizing a phase 2 to ensure more efficient and targeted support for the agricultural sector.
“The key elements of the new phase include an input credit system that will provide farmers with access to inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and other support services for improving productivity and yield as well as storage infrastructure and logistic hub to improve storage and distribution of produce to reduce post-harvest losses”, he stressed.
He concluded that the phase II of the PFJ program will enhance to fend off the acme of the program and therefore evokes Ghanaians to exalt the NPP government for the initiative and its positive impact on the agricultural sector and the economy, and acquaint themselves with the program.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com/Appiah-Kubi
