Planting For Food And Jobs Document Now Available On MoFA Website

A document on the implementation of the 'and Jobs Planting for Food,' a flagship programme of the Government, has been posted on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Website and can be accessed on http://www.mofa.gov.gh.

Mr Kennedy Osei Nyarko, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, said this on Tuesday in Parliament adding that the hardcopy is also available for interested members of the public.

Mr Nyarko was on the floor of Parliament to answer questions on the document and the implementation plan of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme.

Mr Nyarko also answered other questions related to the agricultural sector and gave the assurance that the Government is encouraging farmers to use simple mechanised reapers or harvesters, dryers and good transportation methods to reduce post-harvest losses under the PFJ Programme.

He said the Government was ensuring availability of efficient storage and warehousing infrastructure, and under the PFJ Programme efforts were being made to put up 45 warehouses of about 2,000 MT capacity each at a number of locations across the country.

The warehouses will serve as buffer stock hub of the country.

'Mr Speaker, further to that, the Ministry has sought assistance from the USAID/Agricultural Policy Support Project to train all registered Local Buying Companies (aggregators) in warehousing and grain storage and grain quality assurance,' the Deputy Minister said.

The Government is also improving marketing systems and, under the PFJ, is liaising with a number of electronic platform operators who are assisting in efficient information transmission to enable chain actors including farmers to access marketing information on major commodities.

'This effort is helping in the stabilisation of food prices across the country,' Mr Nyarko said.