Chair Congratulates Minister of Agriculture for Leading the Planting for Food and Jobs Program

General News of Friday, February 22, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-02-22

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, was congratulated yesterday by President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo Dankwa for the effective manner in which he implemented the flagship program of the Government in Agriculture: Plant to feed and create jobs.

"Thanks to the" Plant for food and jobs "program, brilliantly organized by Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Agriculture, this House is informed that in 2018, exports of food products such as cbadava Rice, yellow and white corn, soybean, plantain, cowpea and yam have been produced in considerable quantities from Ghana to Burkina Faso, Togo and Côte d'Ivoire. ", did he declare.

President Akufo-Addo praised his third speech on the state of the nation delivered yesterday in Parliament in Accra.

He said that, thanks to the program, "we had an exceptional crop of products, and last year we did not import a single corn kernel".

The president added that the last two years had shown that "when a government takes deliberate measures to support agriculture, it yields good dividends".

He said the Plant to Feed and Create Jobs program has resulted in an abundance of food products in the country and for the first time in a long time the country has had more than enough.

President Akufo-Addo recalled that not so long ago, Ghana was in the "humiliating" position of having to import maize from its landlocked Sahelian neighbors and plantain banana from Côte d'Ivoire.

New modules

The president said the Planting for Food and Creating Jobs program was a historic story, adding that based on the successes achieved in 2017 and again in 2018, the ministry had made great strides to intensify the campaign in 2019 and introduce new modules of the program.

He announced that four of these new modules were the "Greenhouse Villages" program, the "Plant for Export and Rural Development" (PERD) program, the "Livestock for Food" campaign and the "Farming for Food and Rural Development" program. employment "and the" Mechanization Centers "program.

Change of attitude

"We hope this success will lead to a fundamental shift in attitudes towards farming practices and that the sector will be truly transformed.

"The exceptional harvests and the increase in food production in general will be the norm, and not a surprise from time to time," President Akufo-Addo told Parliament.

He announced that extension services would be expanded and that farmers would have the confidence to know that their business was a profitable business in which they could obtain healthy remuneration and respect.

Aquaculture for food and employment

The president also announced that a version of Plantation for Food and Employment would be set up this year under the authority of the Ministry of Fisheries Development and the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans. aquaculture.

Nicknamed "Aquaculture for Food and Employment" (AFJ) – complementary to the "Plant for Food and Employment" initiative, the flagship program aims to reinvigorate and energize the aquaculture sector.

President Akufo-Addo explained that priority would be given to young entrepreneurs, distressed farmers, second cycle institutions and public institutions for the establishment and operation of fish farms across the country.

"The program will provide participating individuals and groups with the necessary inputs, such as cages, fingerlings, fish feeds and training, to create their own farms.

duration

"The AFJ will be implemented for three years, from 2019 to 2021, in collaboration with the NaBCo (Nation Builders Corps) and Ghana's school feeding program.

"This should create 7,000 jobs and add an additional 33,628 tonnes of fish to our domestic fish production. The piloting of the AFJ has already begun at James Camp Prison, "said the president.

With respect to traditional fishing, he said the government would work with the private sector to facilitate the supply of 5,000 outboard motors and 55,250 fishing gear bales prescribed by the government. intermediary fisheries badociations.

premix

"In order to promote the efficient and effective distribution of premixed fuel, we will continue to use the premixed fuel tracking system and the audit of landing beaches, measures that have avoided , since November 2018, the diversion of premix, a clear improvement over the past, "said the president.

He revealed that a loan of 185 million US dollars had been earmarked for the construction of 12 landing sites and two fishing ports in selected fishing communities in the country.

He said the decision was aimed at modernizing the fisheries sector, adding that the first phase would start in March at Axim, Mumford, Winneba and Teshie.