Ghana’s government has announced plans to create 750,000 jobs alone in the coming 2017 farming season which starts in March-April. It is expected that this figure will more than double in the next farming season in 2018.
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister designate for the Ministry of Food and Agric announced at this at the opening of the 68th Annual New Year School in Accra today.
Apart from the jobs to be created, he estimated that the campaign dubbed Planting for Food and Jobs which is to be launched this month will generate an additional farm income worth GHC1.3billion.
Dr Akofo however didn’t disclose the amount of money the government would invest in the novelty campaign.
Throwing more lights on the campaign, he said the campaign is expected to contribute to national food security; affordable prices of foodstuffs in urban centres in particular; raw materials for industry and feed for livestock, improved incomes to farmers and rural dwellers.
Dr Akoto was quick to add that the campaign which will be spearheaded by his ministry will also contribute foreign exchange earnings from exporting to ECOWAS sub-region and beyond; and significantly reduce the massive foreign exchange expenditure on importing food, which is produced by Ghanaian farmers. These he mentioned include soya, rice and meat.
According to him, the campaign was designed to encourage all citizens (both urban and rural) to take up farming as a full or partime activity.
“It is intended to structure it along the lines of the erstwhile “Operation Feed Yourself” programme of the 1970s. This year 2017 the spearhead of the campaign will involve the production of maize, rice, soybean, sorghum, and vegetables. Other crops will be adopted in subsequent years”, Dr Akoto stated.
He told the participants that the campaign was to be anchored pillars such as the provision of improved seeds; supply of fertilizers; provision of dedicated extension service; marketing, and e-agric.
“To initiate the campaign, the district assemblies will be tasked to identify and register progressive farmers in each of the 216 districts. The selected farmers will be supported with subsidized improved seeds, fertilizers and extension services”, Dr Akoto explained.
He disclosed that to ensure that adequate quantities of improved seeds were made available for the campaign in the coming 2017 planting season, the Grains and Legumes Department Board (GLDB) and certified seed growers would be assisted to deliver supplies to participating farmers.
“Where necessary, provision will be made to import improved hybrid seeds to supplement local supplies”.
“To ensure a ready market for the products of the campaign, the marketing functions of the Grains and Legumes Department Board (GLDB) will be revived as specified in the Act of its establishment (Act 324, 1970). This arrangement is to forestall the situation where farmers are saddled with produce after harvest, suffering large post-harvest losses”, according to him.
The Planting for Food and Jobs campaign is also designed not only to produce food for domestic market and for export, but equally importantly to create the much needed jobs for the teeming youth in the country, he noted.
Dr Akoto therefore used the occasion to appeal to all Ghanaians to roll up their sleeves and put their shoulders to the wheel for rapid agricultural growth starting with the coming farming season beginning March-April 2017.
In the short term, it is only through agric that we can generate jobs in large numbers to put a dent in the mountain of youth unemployment and also produce the needed raw materials to support our promise of “One District One Factory”, he emphasised.
His opening address, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who opened the 68th Annual New Year School endorsed the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign explicitly explained by the minister designate.
He said: “Our vision for agric sector for four years is to modernise agric”, stressing that each district assembly would design a specific role for agric development.
Welcoming the participants, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu observed: “Any nation that seeks to grow should pay attention to agric”.
He therefore urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to use mobile telephony to deploy extension services to farmers across the country.
In a solidarity message, Dr AgBendech Mohamed, Senior Food and Nutrition Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Africa commended Ghana for showing strong political commitment towards agric at the national level.
The 68th Annual New Year School and Conference which is on the theme ‘Promoting National Development through Agricultural Modernization: The Role of ICT’ is organised by School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE) of the College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon
The theme of the 68th Annual New Year School has been broken further into sub-themes which cover the following: National E-agriculture Policy and Strategies; E-solutions and Agricultural Productivity; E-extension Adoption in Agriculture; Agricultural Financing and Insurance; Integrating ICTs in the Agricultural Value Chains; E-agriculture, Gender and the Youth; and ICT, Climate Change and Agricultural Production.
The Annual New Year School and Conference has become an important event on the University of Ghana’s calendar, where every year people of all walks of life meet to deliberate on important topics of national and international concerns.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
