The District Chief Executive for Banda, Emmanuel Akoneh, has exalted the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative by the government and urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the programme.
According to him, the policy has attained its purpose since it was started by the Akufo-Addo government in 2017.
The Banda DCE is of the view that the implementation of the initiative has positively impacted and increased food security in the country adding that, there is no food shortage in Ghana as employment has erupted along the agricultural value chain and has contributed to increased crop yield for major food staples such as rice, maize and soya.
In an interview, Mr. Akoneh stated that the impact of the policy on an individual’s attitude towards farming and agriculture, in general, is immeasurable.
Despite the positive impacts and benefits the PFJ has brought, the chief executive said the awareness of the availability of farm inputs to farming communities was very low; there was no wholesale planting for food and jobs farming inputs in the various districts; there was no proper monitoring; and some farmers collected and sold the farm inputs. These were some of the challenges the PFJ faced.
“Some farmers consider their transportation to the towns from their villages due to the probability of the same prices of the farm inputs, most of the farmers also prefer local farming to 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.
Sharing his view on the launch of the PFJ phase II, Mr. Akoneh said the key element of the new phase; is an input credit system that will provide farmers with access to inputs such as seeds, fertilizers 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 is the way to go to make the programme better and profitable to farmers and the country as a whole.
The DCE urged Ghanaians to exalt the NPP government for the initiative and its positive impact on the agricultural sector and the economy.
