President Akufo-Addo launches "Livestock, Food and Employment" program

Company News from Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-06-05

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to launch the program "Raising to feed and create jobs", intended to facilitate the growth of the livestock industry, said Tuesday in Accra Dr. Owusu Afriyie -Akoto, Minister of Food and Agriculture.

Raising for food and creating jobs is another government flagship project that aims to increase livestock production and reduce meat imports while meeting local demand.

Afriyie-Akoto said at the first edition of a summit on agribusiness, innovation and technology (AGRICTECH 2019) christened; "Ghana is growing up with Israel (GHrow-IL) organized by the Israel Trade and Economic Mission in Ghana and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture together with other local partners.

The summit brings together public conference and agricultural technology fair focused on input technologies, modern agronomic practices and financing models in the agri-food sector, offering Ghana a unique opportunity to use the Israeli know-how accumulated for thousands of years. years.

The Minister of Agriculture said the new program would complement the Plant to Feed and Create Jobs program to increase food production and solve the problem of food insecurity.

He said the government remained committed to modernization and would transform the agricultural sector to create jobs and wealth for citizens.

Afriyie-Akoto described the summit as a better opportunity for Ghana to accelerate the transformation of agriculture to improve incomes and create jobs.

He said that it was simply unacceptable to continue to lament the woes of agriculture in the twenty-first century, when technology abounds and can be adapted and adopted.

"While we agree that agriculture has the potential to transform African economies and reduce poverty, we have for nearly two decades lent our voice to do something to unlock the full potential of the sector. .

"We can not accelerate agricultural development when the yields of many crops are less than 60% of their potential yields because of the low adoption of improved seeds and fertilizers, less than five percent of arable land is under irrigation, when the use of agricultural machinery is limited and when post-harvest losses are still between 30 and 50% depending on crops'.

"It is with a view to changing this situation that the government has launched Planting for Food and Employment, a major campaign to modernize and transform agriculture.

"We have achieved yield increases for staple crops and participation in the program has increased from 202,000 in 2017 to 677,000 in 2018. One million beneficiaries are targeted in 2019".

Dr. Afriyie-Akoto paid tribute to the long-standing bilateral development cooperation with Israel, which was recently strengthened through enhanced training programs in Ghana and Israel.

"We recognize Israel's technological progress in the field of agriculture and we will benefit immensely.

"We are currently working with Israel to build greenhouse production capacity and, under bilateral agreements, Ghanaian youth will attend a one – year training course in Israel on greenhouse production each year. We are also partners in the application of irrigation technology, "he said.

He said Ghana has adopted a comprehensive approach to agricultural development based on the value chain concept. It is with this in mind that the focus is more on the marketing and transformation of excess production achieved through Planting for Food and Jobs.

Afriyie-Akoto said efforts were also being made to introduce treatment equipment. This was consistent with the initiative of the One District District Government aimed at developing rural industry and creating jobs.

"To support technology adoption and investment in agri-food processing activities, innovative financing solutions are being developed," said Dr. Afriyie-Akoto.

Ayelet Levin-Karp, head of the Israeli Economic and Trade Mission in Ghana, said the GHrow-IL 2019 was created to provide a unique platform for exploring avenues for cooperation and technology transfer. between Ghanaian and Israeli partners.