The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, has revealed that, his government has secured an amount of $125million from the Canadian government to support a national agricultural campaign dubbed “Planting for food and Jobs”.
According to the President the initiative, together with others in the agric sector is aimed at ensuring all year farming through irrigation farming and also create jobs for the employed youth.
He said, this will help curb the upsurge of food imports into the country to improve and maximize agricultural activities in the country as the district assemblies will also be tasked to identify and register progressive farmers in each of the 216 districts starting from the three Northern Regions.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address to Parliament, President Akufo-Addo said: “We have to irrigate our lands and equip farmers with skills needed to make farming a well-paying business. We aim to popularise farming by encouraging many people to take it up as a full- or part-time activity.”
“A national campaign, Planting for Food will be launched to stimulate this activity. An amount of 125 million Canadian dollars has been secured from Canada to support the initiative. This campaign will be anchored on the pillars that will transform agriculture – the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilisers, the provision of dedicated extension services and marketing strategy, and the use of e-agriculture,” he said.
He said that far, too long, our farmers have been left to work by themselves without the necessary support from government.
“To initiate the campaign, the district assemblies will be tasked to identify and register progressive farmers in each of the 216 districts. For too long our farmers have been left to cope by themselves without the necessary support from government. For too long our farmers have been left to the mercy of the weather. We have decided to embark on a programme to provide water to enable all-year farming – we are calling it One-Village-One-Dam policy.”
President Akufo-Addo stated that, agriculture provides the best opportunity to use modern methods to achieve the lives of many within the shortest possible time adding that, “We have to irrigate our lands and equip farmers with the skills needed to make framing a well-paid business.”
The Canadian Government is set to inject a total of $120m US Dollars (125m Canadian Dollars) into the Planting For Food and Jobs initiative being spearheaded by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The agreement for the release of the funds was signed at the Finance Ministry.
It forms part of the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) Project which forms part of efforts by government to reverse the declining growth of the agric sector over the past eight years.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ken Ofori-Atta, signed on behalf of Ghana whilst the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ms Heather Anne Cameron, signed on behalf of her country. It was also witnessed by the Chief of Staff, Mrs. Frema Opare Addo and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.
The Planting For Food and Jobs is a new policy geared towards the modernization of Ghana’s Agriculture and ensure food security for the country.
The program will be operating under five main components. These are supply of improved seedlings, provision of fertilizers, extension services, marketing for produce and E-Agriculture. The Canadian government agreed to support the program after series of meetings with Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture.
The amount the thebftonl;ine.com understands, will be released in five trunches over the next five years and will go into two main components of the program including purchasing and supply of improved seedlings as well as extension services support for beneficiary farmers to be captured under the initiative.
Meanwhile, other development partners including the Korean and Israeli Governments have also pledged to support the program which is expected to take off in the coming crop season.