SoNA2018: 500K farmers for Planting for Food and Jobs programme – Akufo-Addo

Government has pledged to expand agriculture in the country with an increased number of farmer enrolments into the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said there is a “fresh interest in farming” following the implementation of the programme, and “the success of the first year has encouraged us to increase the scope of the programme, and, this year, some half-a-million farmers would be signed on, up from the figure of 200,000”.

Mr Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this in his second State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday, February 8, added that “the 50per cent subsidy on fertiliser, and the increase in the provision of extension services, is making a great difference to the performance of Ghanaian agriculture”.

“This year, the One-Village-One-Dam project starts full operation. It is a simple, low-tech project, but these dams will make a big difference to all our lives and the livelihoods of our farmers,” he further revealed and added that “many of the little dams that had been abandoned, have been rehabilitated and brought back into use. A deliberate and specific intervention to help farmers is paying off”.