Government is seeking the support of traditional authorities in the country to widen the scope of the Planting for Food and Jobs.
The decision follows the launch of the Phase II of the Planting for Food and Jobs.
The Ministry of Information in a statement said, “President Akufo-Addo will on Saturday engage with members of the National House of Chiefs as part of efforts to make large tracts of land available for farming”.
The Ministry in its statement emphasised the support of chiefs in enhancing efforts to make the programme successful.
“The President expects that the support of Chiefs will further enhance efforts to make the program successful. With about 80% of Ghana’s land being customary ownership by chiefs and families, it is acknowledged that chiefs have the power to allocate, lease, or sell land for various purposes”.
President Akufo-Addo, on Monday, 28th August 2023, launched Phase Two of Government’s flagship programme on agriculture, “Planting for Food and Jobs,” at the University for Development Studies, in Tamale.
Targeted at building on the successes of the initial programme, the second phase of the programme is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana with focus on modernisation through the development of a selected commodity value chain and active private sector participation.
Phase Two of the Programme seeks to “improve service delivery to maximise impact, substitutes direct input subsidy with smart agricultural financial support in the form of comprehensive input credit, with provision for in-kind payment,” the President indicated.
President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, launched the maiden “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme at Goaso in the Ahafo region.
The move was to represent the government’s key initiative to modernise agriculture, improve production efficiency, and achieve food security, and profitability for farmers.
It targeted a significant increase in agricultural productivity and pursued a value-addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets.
