Northern Region records highest number of farmers under Planting for Food and Jobs campaign

The Northern Region registered the highest number of farmers under the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs campaign with a total of 39,000 farmers, followed by the Upper West Region which registered 36,000 farmers this year alone.

The Upper East is next with 26,000 while the Brong Ahafo and the Ashanti Regions are both fourth on the list with 20, 000 farmers each.

Minister of State at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Nurah Gyiele gave these statistics when he addressed the 2017 Conference of Co-ordinating Directors which took place in Sunyani.

Dr. Nurah Gyiele further said the Greater Accra Region registered the lowest number of 1,600 farmers.

According to him, even though the Brong Ahafo Region registered about 20,000 farmers for the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign, it has the largest area of cultivation, covering 42,700 hectares of land.

Dr. Gyiele emphasized that the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign was primarily aimed at promoting growth in food production while providing job opportunities to people, especially the youth.

“One thousand graduates of the various Colleges of Agriculture were recruited this year to provide extension services to the farmers while plans are underway to recruit more next year as we expand the programme.”

He said adequate measures were being made to avert post-harvest loses due to the bumper harvest expected as a result of the success story of the campaign.

“One thousand and twenty-one License Buying Companies have been registered to mop-up the produce from the farmers and supply the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) with the produce”, he explained. END