Kwaku Agyenim-Boateng
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Berekum West in the Brong-Ahafo Region and Chairman of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, Kwaku Agyenim-Boateng, has called on all Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ghanaians in general to happily embrace the ‘planting for food and jobs’ policy of the government which is intended to provide jobs and make Ghana self-sufficient in food production.
He said the government had already secured 125 million Canadian dollars for the project, which is expected to take off in March this year, and that all Ghanaians must be involved to make the project a big success for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
Contributing to the debate on the State of the Nation address in parliament on Friday, the Berekum West MP said it is unfortunate that the previous government did not attach much importance to agriculture which saw the contribution of the sector to GDP declining from 31.8% in 2009 to 19% in 2015 with government increasingly slashing direct budget for the agricultural sector.
Mr Agyenim-Boateng said 90% of farm holdings are still under two hectares or less than two hectares and production is rain-fed; that is why the NPP government is proposing the ‘one village, one dam’ policy to make farming an all-year-round activity in the three Northern Regions especially.
He said the government is also prepared to support recognized farmers’ groups with inputs to make farming even much more productive.
He said bullock farming is still very popular in the country but lack of access to credits by farmers is hampering growth in the sector.
Mr Agyenim-Boateng noted that for a very long time farmers have been treated like ‘second class’ citizens and that the present government would give all the necessary recognition to farmers and help them with credits to expand their farms.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Keta, Richard Quashigah, contributing, highly commended President Akufo-Addo for appointing his ministers in a record time and also for his haste to start business of government in time.
According to him, President Nana Akufo-Addo was right when he said he was in a hurry to fix the country’s numerous problems.
He told parliament that the president’s hurry to get the work done seriously breached the Local Government Act by creating new ministries like the Ministry for Evaluation and Monitoring and the Ministry for Regional Reorganisation and Development without the accompanying executive instrument.
He said from his checks at the Ghana Publishing Company, no executive instrument had been issued on the new ministries and accordingly gazetted.
According to Mr Quashigah, the president could be challenged in court for circumventing the law.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr