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Economic News from Sunday, July 21, 2019
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2019-07-21
Photo file
Lack of access to farmland hampers implementation of the government programs Plant for Food and Employment (PFJ) and Planter for Export and Rural Development (PERD) in the districts of Pru East and West from the Bono Est area.
Information collected from the district directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) revealed that many interested young people and farmers from the region have registered and have expressed the wish to embark in the commercial cashew nut plantation, but land acquisition remains a major challenge in the districts.
This is mainly due to chiefdom conflicts and land disputes that are common in both districts.
Mr. Nambe Jababu, director of MoFA in Pru East and Pru West districts, said that there was a reserve of about 100 bags of rice on more than 1,000 bags provided for distribution to farmers registered under the PfFJ during the 2018 crop year.
This year, he said, the Branch has only harvested 20,000 cashew seedlings, which will be distributed to 167 farmers to establish 500 acres of cashew farms.
Mr. Jababu stated that the reduction occurred because during the 2018 crop year, there was a surplus of 46,030 cashew seedlings distributed among the 246 farmers who created 1,150 acres of cashew plantations creating direct jobs and indirectly for 310 people in the districts.
At a meeting of department heads and key staff of the Pru East District Assembly in Yeji, Mr. Augustine Collins Ntim, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development charged rural economic development and agriculture, was visiting.
Mr. Jababu said that 2,188 farmers were registered under the PfFJ in 2017 and that they were over 3,000 in 2018, adding that the program had contributed to a 50% increase in food production in 2017- 2018.
He added that fall armyworm disease had severely damaged acres of corn farms, affecting about 871 farmers.
Mr. Ntim expressed his dissatisfaction with the number of farmers benefiting from PfFJ and the PERD program, and asked the two district bademblies to collaborate effectively with the leadership of the Ministry of Health and to intensify the 39 public education so that programs can recruit more farmers.
He also advised the Branch to improve data collection and program documentation because it was the surest way to measure the impact of programs.
Mr. Joshua Kwaku Abonkrah, Pru East District General Manager, advised against people living in the area to politicize the programs of PERD and PfFJ.
He said that partisan politics remains the scourge of socio-economic development and has advised people to adopt and participate in government social intervention programs intended to improve their lot.
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