“750,000 [jobs] is nothing, I want to employ five million people not 750, 000,” he said.

Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie’s claims that they’ve created 745,000 “unofficial” jobs under the programme across the country, have been disputed by critics who say these ventures should be classified as “activities and not jobs” as they are not sustainable for the entire year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Zwy9nq3VUT4NbvxcCQxjbFTkxOhdfGOJ”]“… The Planting for Food and Jobs campaign has absorbed this [rural] labour to the extent that we targeted 750,000 rural labour, and we were able to generate 745,000 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 are registered, you are paid a wage, you have to pay tax and so on, and therefore, it is very easy to monitor.”

“The whole idea is to generate enough jobs in our rural areas so that they would have something to do for them to stay, so that the Kayayei [Head porters] can go back to Tamale, Bolga and all those places to reach rice farmers,” the Minister said at a news conference last week.

745,000 ‘Planting for Food’ jobs are full-time

A deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, George Oduro, has also defended the figures, saying they are full-time employment ventures.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Mr. Oduro said many of those employed under the programme help with a number of farming activities including the tilling of lands and the harvesting of crops.

“…This is [a] full-time job. You start from land preparation until harvesting…These are not jobs that you go for interviews,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post We will employ 5m people; 750,000 too small – Agric Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the idea for the implementation of the program has however been captured on a concept note in the interim while consultants work on the final implementation document.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LJbfRlr6iuEdcMyEOymQfRRvU06RyZVJ”]His admission follows policy think tank, IMANI Africa’s report on the programme which listed various shortfalls with the current structure of the initiative including the lack of a clear implementation plan.

Dr Gyeile told Citi News that the consultants are currently developing the concept note into an implementation plan.

“The only thing [left] is the implementation plan. The idea we have, we have put it in a concept note. The concept notes we will develop the implementation plan in the media term.”

The ‘planting for food and jobs’ is one of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s main policy plan it said it intends to roll out this year in its bid to revolutionalize the agricultural sector of the country.

As part of the program, enrolled farmers will benefit from farm inputs, fertilizers, improve crop seeds, among other resources to help them improve production and increase profit margins.

Although most farmer-groups believe the program has the potential of improving returns in the sector, they are uncertain about how the government intends to fully carry it out as a result of a non-existent program document to provide full details of the implementation.

Some groups have also cast doubt that the policy will succeed.

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana said it is not sure of the goverment’s ability to do a good job with the program. Among other challenges it has expressed, is the engagement of National Service personnel for extension services.

The Programme Officer for the Association, Charles Kwowe Nyaaba, in a Citi News interview said, “the approach of recruiting extension service personnel to help in the programme is wrong. If you go to the Ministry of Agriculture at the district level, you have the extension officers there who are not able to visit farming communities because of lack of logistics. You leave all these people hanging there and you say you are bringing National Service personnel to train them to go and train the farmers. At the end of the day, if you don’t take care, they would rather go and be learning from the farmers and that is not going to give us the impact that we are looking for.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ has no implementation plan – Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said if the situation is not checked, the consequences of a ban will be far reaching on Ghana.

Speaking at a press engagement at the Regional Coordinating Council in Sekondi on Friday, Dr. Afriyie, who is a renowned cocoa farmer with several years of experience, explained that “Galamsey has the potential of destroying Ghana’s cocoa.

[contextly_sidebar id=”uX7juSsSjHUXvjhNxiyBx947WUuodO4V”]”Indeed, if we do not take care, if they [‘galamseyers’] left lose some of these heavy metals into the environment and it gets absorbed, Ghana faces the potential of its cocoa being boycotted on the international market. The mercury that the ‘gala’ people use releases heavy metals like arsenic and other things. This must be addressed,” he added.

Illegal miners over the past few years, have invaded the three leading cocoa growing districts in the Western Region.

The Wassa Amenfi East, West and Central districts, are now the leading cocoa growing districts in the country.

However, it is in these districts that illegal mining activity have heightened.

Mercury use in illegal small scale mining in Ghana continues to be the most commonly used methods in extracting gold.

Even though Ghana has recently ratified a Minamata Convention which seeks to reduce the use of mercury use in alluvial small scale mining and replace it with other proven methods, mercury use is yet to see reduction to acceptable levels.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana’s cocoa risk international boycott over galamsey – Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.