The Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme remains one of the success stories of the government’s flagship programmes launched in 2017.

The programme, which hinges on smallholder farmers as the vehicle for its successful implementation, seeks to create food security and produce the raw materials to feed agro-processing industries while creating jobs in the process.

Focus of PFJ

The PFJ initiative thrives on partnerships involving the government, the private sector and development institutions. Central to this equation are the smallholder farmers — themselves a component of the private sector as suppliers and customers within their value chain.

The PFJ focuses on delivering improved seeds, fertilizers and extension services to smallholder farmers across the country at a 50 per cent subsidy absorbed by the government.

International platform

Since its implementation, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, at various international platforms marketed the programme to the international community which was endorsed as an important step to food sufficiency and security.

This has aroused the interest of other countries which have officially visited Ghana to confer with the ministry on how to replicate the programme in their respective countries.

Generating interest

Neighbouring Burkina Faso, Togo, Malawi and recently Trinidad and Tobago are some of the countries that sought assistance from Ghana one time or the other for the replication of the programme.

The success of the programme does not only rely on the fact that there is evidence of food sufficiency in the country, but the fact that other countries and important international institutions have recognised the programme as a panacea for food security.

Distinguished United Nations agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) as well as the Africa Union (AU) have, at separate events, held discussions with Dr Akoto on the flagship programme.

Trinidad and Tobago

Last Wednesday, the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr John Alleyne, conferred with Dr Akoto to understand how the PFJ works and the possibility of that country adopting it for its benefit.

Dr Alleyne described the flagship programme as “a very good initiative” and was hopeful that they could make use of aspects of it.

He explained that after the official visit to the country with his Prime Minister, Dr Keith Christopher Rowley, “I was asked to remain for an extra week in order to get more agricultural information and technology.”

Malawi

In July, 2019, a team of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development of Malawi was in the country to understudy Ghana’s agricultural policies to replicate them in Malawi.

Their primary focus was the Planting for Food and Jobs programme and how the Ministry of Food and Agriculture had been able to involve the youth in agriculture, especially in the area of the greenhouse technology where it had graduates at the centre.

Intensifying campaign

It is good for Ghana to sell the flagship programme to other African countries even to our brothers from Trinidad and Tobago but it is important that the MoFA intensifies its campaign to get all farmers in Ghana onto the programme so that we can truly be food sufficient and have excess to sell.

As of now, we are told that under the crops module, a little over one million signed onto the programme. That in itself is not bad but we can still do more so that the feeding of the nation and our neighbouring countries would be a collective one and not the small fraction.

If indeed, only about 1.2 million farmers are able to produce so much for us to export to our neighbouring countries then, surely, Ghana can feed Africa if we put our act together.

Source: peacefmonline.com