Elijah Adansi-Bonah, Obuasi Municipal Chief Executive, says the introduction of the government’s flagship programme; Rearing for Food and Jobs will boost the agricultural economy of Obuasi.

Speaking at a ceremony to present 100 pigs to 20 beneficiary farmers as part of the Rearing for Food and Jobs programme, he said Obuasi was on course to harness its economic potential through agriculture.

Mr. Adansi-Bonah said the Municipality was focusing on pig farming due to its enormous benefits and potential to create employment and reduce poverty in the area.

He said despite its international reputation as a mining town, Obuasi had chalked great success in the area of agriculture, by producing two best regional farmers and best national cocoa farmer in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

Mr. Adansi-Bonah advised the beneficiaries to take good care of the pigs to help sustain the programme for the benefit of others.

Mr Augustine Antwi, Municipal Director of Agriculture said that the pigs had been quarantined and tested to make sure they were free from diseases like Swine brucellosis; an infectious disease of pigs which causes chronic inflammatory lesions in the reproductive organs and infertility and low milk production.

He assured the beneficiary farmers of the directorate’s continuous technical support and monitoring, to ensure that the programme achieved its intended purpose in order to help sustain the policy.

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, launched the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) campaign on 25th June, 2019 in Wa in the Upper West Region

The campaign, which will run for five years, from 2019 to 2023, according to President Akufo-Addo, “will develop a competitive and more efficient livestock industry that will increase domestic production, reduce importation of livestock products, contribute to employment creation, and improve livelihoods of livestock value chain actors”.