The Planting for Food and Job Campaign is a five (5) year policy introduced by the current government to turn around the declining fortunes of the agriculture sector. Launched in April 2017, the policy involves an investment of 125 million Canadian dollars in improved seeds and extension services for farmers of five (5) main crops including maize, rice, sorghum, soybeans and vegetables.
According to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the programme in its first year of implementation produced a total crop value of GH¢1.2 billion whilst creating a total of 745,000 jobs, mainly in the rural economy.
This, he attributed to the use of labour, improved seeds and fertilisers combined with increased extension service delivery in the production of an additional 485,000 MT of maize; 179,000 MT of rice; and 45,200 MT of vegetables. The initiative at its initial stage of implementation however had its fair share of challenges like farmers clashing with government over the repayment terms for the subsidized inputs.
A number of stakeholder groups like the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (P-FAG) also expressed dismay over the lack of stakeholder engagement in the rollout among other concerns. Edward Kareweh says the implementation has been largely successful by far but not without the usual challenges associated with such policies.
According to him, the initiative may not yield the desired results unless the challenges are comprehensively addressed with a holistic policy framework. “You can’t use the Planting for Food and Jobs policy alone to transform the country’s agricultural sector.
The policy as it stands targets only the crop sub-sector at the expense of other sub-sectors. The good and important part however is that, it’s targeting the largest subsector which means it is going to reduce poverty. But that is not enough.
For instance, if you take cash crops like oil palm, cocoa and rubber, how would the programme boost their production? The relationship is not much,” he bemoaned.
