Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto
Minister for Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, has hinted that four officials under his ministry are currently under investigations for their inability to account for all the inputs under their care for the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme.
Even though Dr. Afriyie-Akoto said the four MoFA officials are in the Upper East Region, he didn’t mention their names and their districts. Rather, he gave the assurance that they were under investigations by the police in the region after an audit had found them liable.
The minister explained: “The investigations are not about smuggling; it’s about officers who have mishandled the stocks which are already in. We have sent auditors to have a physical count and check against what are on the records and their shortages. The immediate action is to retrieve government moneys, and if there are criminalities, the police will handle that according to the law.”
He gave the hint in an interaction with some journalists in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region after his meeting with district directors and other senior officers of the MoFA in the region on progress the region had made so far in the agric sector since the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme started in the region, as well as this farming season.
The minister and his regional and district officers identified some challenges the programme is faced with, including the fall armyworm infestation and inadequate agric extension officers in the region.
Asked when government would be rolling out the rearing for food and jobs programme under the agric sector, Dr. Afriyie-Akoto announced “all is almost set and government is expected to commence it in 2019, when some citizens of Ghana will be supported to go into livestock rearing as economic ventures and also for domestic consumption”.
He looks forward to the start of the programme and urged all Ghanaians who are capable not to politicise the programme or the ongoing ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ but join to create more jobs and food to improve Ghana’s food security.
Earlier, DAILY GUIDE had visited some districts in the Upper East Region to assess the effect of the fall armyworm infection on the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
A crop and desk officer in charge of fall armyworm in the Builsa North District, Moro Sumaila, said the effect is reducing as farmers now know the worms and how they survive, hence their commitment to spray at the right time.
Mr. Moro gave the assurance that there are some chemicals in the district, but urged farmers to keep looking out for the worms and get them killed as soon as they are sighted on a farm.
In his view, this approach would help to reduce their numbers as well as the rate of infection on a farm.
Like other districts, the Builsa North District, also need more agric extension officers to cover a bigger proportion of farmers in the area with information on good practices, and also help to attain a good outcome from the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga