The Minister Nominee for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has announced plans to launch an operation to be known as ‘planting for food and jobs’ campaign.
He made this known at the ongoing 68th annual New Year School and Conference of the University of Ghana.
According to him, the programme is scheduled take off in March 2017, and the next farming season will create over 750,000 jobs for the youth.
He challenged stakeholders assembled, to bring their expertise to bare in the deliberations, particularly regarding the use of ICT to accelerate the growth of agriculture in order to cope with the demands of the rapidly rising population.
“We need to generate more wealth in the Agricultural sector to be able to improve the livelihood of our farmers and fisher folk, and help grow the national economy. It is in recognition of this that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in its manifesto of 2016, promised to modernize agriculture. In this regard, the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo plans to launch a national campaign with the slogan; ‘Planting for food and jobs’.
“This campaign is designed to encourage all citizens both urban and rural, to take up farming as a full time and part time activity. It is intended to structure it along the lines of operation Feed Yourself Programme in the 1970s. This year, the spearhead of the campaign will involve the production of rice, soya beans, sorghum and vegetables. Other crops will be adopted in subsequent years.”
The Operation Feed Yourself campaign was launched in the 1970s to make Ghana self-sufficient in food supply.
But the food programme subsequently became ineffective over the years. The Minister however believes the objectives of the Operation Feed Yourself campaign will be revived through the new campaign.
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By: Marian Ansah & Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana