Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Government has said its Planting for Food and Jobs programme has in its first year alone created some 745,000 jobs.
The Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto said the jobs were created in the areas of input supply and distribution of surplus food resulting from the programme.
In an interview with Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo, the Minister said the government was hoping to create 750,000 jobs by the time the programme is rolled out and is getting close to achieving that feat.
“I am glad to say that when we did the calculation, we came close to 745,000 jobs created in the rural areas,” he told Joseph.
The Planting for Food and Jobs programme is a flagship policy of the governing New Patriotic Party.
Launched by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last year, the programme is to help address the declining growth of the agricultural sector of the country.
As part of the programme, Ghanaians have been admonished to take up agriculture as a full-time business to enable the country produce enough to feed itself and for export.
Under the programme which was started with a seed capital of GHS560 million, about 200,000 farmers have been provided with fertilizers as well as other farming inputs.
Spanning a period of five years, the programme also hopes to create jobs to deal with the unemployment challenges in the country.
Dr Owusu Afriyie said much of that dream has been realized.
Source: Myjoyonline.com