1.0 WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN PFJ
Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) is a Government Campaign, which is helping to:
- increase food production
- promote farming as a noble and profitable business
- change the attitude of the youth towards agriculture
- reduce food imports and increase exports
- create jobs
The Campaign which was launched in April, 2017 by the President has advantages for participating farmers. It has indeed emerged as a provider of well-timed solutions to the farming needs of the Ghanaian farmer.
2.0 BACKGROUND
The situation before 2017 was:
- less than 11% Ghanaian farmers used improved seeds
- under 20% used fertilizers
- the farm extension service was near collapsing.
- yields of most crops were far less than their potential yields.
- marketing infrastructure for farm produce was woefully inadequate.
- little incentive to attract the youth into farming.
- the budget allocation to the sector was steadily dwindling.
3.0 NOW STOP AND LOOK AT THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND BENEFITS OF PFJ TODAY
FERTILIZER SUBSIDY:
- Government pays for half of the cost of the fertilizer needed to increase your maize, rice or vegetable yield.
- This means you pay only half of the cost of the fertilizer you use on your farm.
fertilizers – inorganic and organic
In 2017 121,000MT of fertilizers were supplied to farmers at 50% subsidy under PFJ and 175,000MT under the general fertilizer subsidy of 20%. In 2018, 243,017MT, including blended fertilizers were sold under PFJ at 50% cost. The target for this year (2019) is 331,000 MT.
SUBSIDY FOR IMPROVED SEEDS:
Similar to fertilizers, the government pays half of the cost of the improved seeds you need on your farm. These seeds are better than the seeds you have been using in the past. They are improved seeds which can double or increase yields by three or more times. In 2017, government supplied farmers with 4,400MT of certified Maize, Rice, Soya bean, Sorghum and Vegetable seeds. The quantity increased to 6,821MT in 2018. The target for this year (2019) is 15,000MT with the inclusion of the following crops - Cassava, Yam, Groundnut, Plantain, Cowpea and Sweet Potato.
4.0 AGRICULTURE EXTENSION AGENTS (AEAs)
These are men and women who have been trained by government in good agricultural practices. They are located in every district to work closely with farmers, visit their farms and educate them on new and better ways of farming.
In 2017, over 2,000 agents were engaged under the Youth Employment and National Service Schemes. Last year, all District Directors and Extension Officers were equipped with new vehicles, motor bikes and uniforms. The government also gave approval for 2700 more Agents to be engaged. The process of recruitment and postings to the duty stations has been completed and led to an improvement in the extension-farmer ratio.
Agriculture extension agents are known as friends of farmers, make use of their services.
5.0 PESTICIDES: You will also receive free pesticides to help you fight the fall army worm (FAW), if they re-emerge.
6.0 MARKETING
The PFJ assists farmers in marketing their farm produce. Ghana’s National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) has been revived to buy grains from farmers.
This company has in turn registered over one thousand licensed buying companies all over the country to purchase grains directly at the farm gate.
7.0 WAREHOUSES
However, the NAFCO has warehouse capacity of only 38,000MT country wide. Two Ministries - Agriculture and Special Development Initiatives are addressing this problem by building 80 warehouses, each with a storage capacity of 1000MT.
The target for this year (2019) is to double the nationwide storage capacity to 160,000MT.
8.0 GHANA COMMODITY EXCHANGE
This has also been established to help transform Agriculture in the country. It is a new method of linking small holder farmers to competitive market, providing them with reliable information about storage and credit financing. They can be contacted on Tel. 0302 937 677 for all services needed.
9.0 RAW MATERIALS
The aim of Government is to motivate you and other farmers to produce more raw materials for the many factories being built under the One District One Factory programme.
10.0 INCREASES IN FARM YIELD
Yields of various crops have increased in PFJ fields:
- Maize yield increased from 1.8MT /Ha in 2016 to 3.0 MT/Ha (67%) in 2017 and 3.5 MT in 2018.
- Rice yield increased from 2.7MT/Ha in 2016 to 4.0 MT/Ha (48%) in 2017.
Similar yield increases have been recorded for other food crops under PFJ, including Sorghum, Soya Bean and Vegetables.
11.0 JOBS
PFJ has also created jobs particularly in the rural economy. In 2017 a total of nearly 745,000 jobs were created and 795,000 last year (2018).
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The Hon. Minister, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, spearheading the campaign to make agriculture once more respectable and profitable |
12.0 POSITIVE RESULTS
These are some of the bold steps the government has taken to support farmers and the results have been tremendous and the evidence is there for all to see:
- There is abundance of food in the country leading to reduction in the prices of foodstuffs in the urban areas
- Recently, certain individual traders have taken advantage of the situation to export excess yams, plantain, maize and soya bean to the neighbouring countries in order to help increase our foreign exchange earnings
JOIN PFJ NOW?
You too can participate and start enjoying the benefits of Planting for Food and Jobs.
- Over 200,000 farmers participated (2017)
- In the second year (2018), nearly 700,000 farmers benefited.
- This year (2019) our target is up to 1million participating farmers.
- And up to 1.4 million is targeted for 2020.
This is an opportunity for you. Please make up your mind right now to join this massive campaign which does not only see your farm needs but provides answers.
Contact the District / Municipal Agriculture Office in your local Assembly. Speak to the District or Municipal Agriculture Director or the Extension Agent and you will surely become a beneficiary.
Issued from PFJ Secretariat at MoFA
Tel. 0247547739 JUNE, 2019