Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, inaugurated the second phase of the “Planting for Food and Jobs” initiative on August 28, 2023, at the University for Development Studies in Tamale
This new five-year phase aims to modernize Ghana’s agriculture by focusing on specific commodity value chains and encouraging private sector involvement.
President Akufo-Addo emphasized the comprehensive approach of the second phase, highlighting its focus on strengthening links along eleven agricultural value chains, including grains, roots, tubers, vegetables, and poultry. The program’s emphasis also shifted from direct input subsidies to a more intelligent agricultural financial support system that offers input credit.
The impact of the programme is expected to be in the area of job creation, with some 1.2 million farmers to be enrolled in the first year. In the next four years, the programme is destined to record an annual average of 210,000 new farm-related jobs. This will exclude other jobs along the agricultural value chains estimated at an annual average of 420,000 over the same period, President Akufo-Addo said.
The second phase encompasses several key components, such as providing farmers with access to inputs like seeds and fertilizers, building storage infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses, enhancing access to markets for fair pricing, and implementing a digitized platform for better coordination.
A major anticipated impact of the program is job creation, with around 1.2 million farmers expected to enroll in the first year alone. Over the next four years, an estimated annual average of 210,000 new farm-related jobs and 420,000 jobs within the agricultural value chains are projected.
President Akufo-Addo launched the initial “Planting for Food and Jobs” initiative on April 19, 2017, in the Ahafo region. This successful first phase led to reaching over 2.7 million farmers and value chain actors, improving food security, and increasing the agricultural sector’s growth rate from 2.7% in 2016 to an average of 6.3% from 2017 to 2021.
International Recognition and Response: Planting for Foods & Jobs
The President noted the international recognition of the need to enhance agricultural strategies, particularly highlighted at the United Nations Summit in September 2021 and the AU Dakar II Summit in January 2022. He expressed pride that Ghana is responding to this call by implementing the second phase of the “Planting for Food and Jobs” program.
Commitment to Agricultural Advancement: Planting for Foods & Jobs
President Akufo-Addo assured the farming community of his government’s ongoing support and commitment to raising the agricultural sector to improve the overall quality of life for the people.
