‘Ghana is now exporting food to neighboring countries’- Akufo Addo

• Posted on January 10, 2019
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Ghana is now exporting food items to neighbouring countries, President Akufo Addo has announced.

According to him, it is the introduction of the government’s flagship program, “planting for food and jobs” that has resulted in excess production of food.

At a meeting with some queenmothers across the country, the president said, the government has been able to make the agric sector a vibrant one.

“Today Ghana is an exporter of food again all over the world; we are now exporting food to  Cote d’Ivoire, to Burkina Faso, to Mali, to Togo with the support of government, our farmers can do it, they are hardworking,” he said.

In May, last year, President Nana Akufo-Addo said his government intends to employ 500,000 farmers in 2018 under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

The Planting for Food and Jobs programme is one of the government’s flagship initiatives aimed at improving food production in the country.

The programme rolled out in all 216 districts of the country involves the supply of farm resources such as high-yielding and improved seedlings to participating farmers.

The Planting for Food and Jobs policy is hinged on five pillars; the supply of improved seeds to farmers at subsidized prices, the supply of fertilizers to farmers at subsidized prices, free extension services to farmers, marketing opportunities for produce after harvest, and E-Agriculture.

Other milestones under Planting for Food & Jobs

• The Distribution of about 80,000 bags of cereal and legume seeds,  36,000 sachets of vegetable seeds and about 2,000,000 bags of fertilizer
• Recruitment of 822 agricultural extension personnel
• Establishment of a task-force to assess the status of warehouses and storage facilities nationwide for rehabilitation
• Creation of market opportunities for farmers by linking them with institutional buyers such as the School Feeding Programme and Prisons Service.
• Electronic registration of over 34, 000 farmers out of more than 200,000 manually registered.