Farmers Make GHȻ1.2BN From Planting For Food And Jobs

The first phase of government’s flagship policy, “Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ),” has been successful—raking in about GHȻ 1.2 Billion, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has revealed.

In a statement signed by the sector minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said the money garnered was from sales of the PFJ crops.

According to him, about 485,000 metric tonnes of maize; 199,000 metric tonnes of rice and 45,200 metric tonnes of vegetables were harvested and sold after the roll out the policy.

The money goes directly to the about 2000 farmers who took advantage of the programme at its initial stages, the statement revealed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Afriyie Akoto at a press conference held last Friday has also attributed about 745,000 jobs to the success of the programme.

In explaining the job statistics which has already been disputed by some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the minister said, to cultivate one hectare of land, two farm hands are needed.

Therefore, for crops on 357,000 hectares (acquired by government for the programme) to be nurtured, 715,000 farms hands would be needed.

“Planting for Food and Jobs campaign has absorbed this labour to the extent that we targeted 750,000 rural labourers and we were able to generate 745,000 thousand jobs and these jobs are unofficial jobs. They are not pensionable, they are not tax deductible so you cannot actually measure it like those in the formal sector where you re-registered, you are paid a wage, you have to pay tax and so on and therefore, it is very easy to monitor,” Dr Afriyie Akoto explained.

On jobs created “officially”, the minister stated that 3,000 jobs were created through the hiring of extension officers and personnel who registered the 2,000 farmers.

The Minister further explained that an additional 27,000 jobs were created in five areas along the commodity value chain bringing the sum total of jobs created to about 745,000—almost hitting government’s target of 750,000.

PFJ Programme

The Planting for Food and Job Programme is a flagship policy introduced by the current government to help address the declining growth of Ghana’s agricultural sector.

It is a five year long policy which is geared towards increasing food productivity and food security for the country.

At the roll out of the policy, last year, government invested a seed capital of GHȻ560 million to provide seeds, fertilizers, extension, and marketing services for the participants.

Dr Afriyie Akoto says the PFJ story is a “success story worth telling” and he is very much hopeful that the programme would chalk more success in the coming year.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]