Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has touted the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative as having a significant improvement on the agricultural sector of the economy.
According to Mr. Ofori-Atta, the initiative enhanced crop yields, which has led to greater food security.
He said this during the presentation of the 2023 mid-year budget review in Parliament on Monday, July 31, 2023.
“Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) has brought substantial improvement in Ghana’s agricultural sector. This has resulted in increased food security, employment along agricultural value chains, and accessibility of raw materials for developing industries.
“The program has directly contributed to increased crop yields for major food staple such as maize, rice and soya, by 135%, 67% and 18% respectively within the period,” he stated.
He emphasized that, after reviewing the PFJ program, the government is committed to ensuring effective support for the agriculture sector.
“After a comprehensive review, government is finalizing PFJ phase 2, to ensure a more efficient and targeted support for the agricultural sector. The key elements of phase 2 are input credit systems, storage and distribution infrastructure, commodity trading and digitized platforms.”