My gov't has reduced food prices to its lowest in 2 decades - Akufo-Addo

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, the president said the revival of Ghanaian agriculture as one of the outstanding developments that have taken place over the last three years.

President Akufo-Addo explained that, at the time of taking office, the country was importing basic food stuffs from Ghana’s neighbours.

However, as a result of the implementation of the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, he stated that “we have reversed this situation. We are now net exporters of food stuffs again. We have had two bumper harvests in Ghana and in the last two years, we have stopped importing maize, we have cut down on our import of rice.”

Additionally, he stated that “the prices of food stuffs in Ghana are the lowest that we have had in two decades, and all of this is because of the programme for planting for food and jobs which is essentially a program for Government support for Ghanaian agriculture, especially smallholder agriculture.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Pulse Ghana

Touching on the 1-District-1-Factory initiative, the President stated that the purpose of the policy is to create employment in the rural communities, tackle the phenomenon of rural-urban migration by ensuring that there are worthwhile jobs for young people within their rural settings, and, of course, help in the transformation of the Ghanaian economy.

With Ghana’s economy, like many other economies on the continent, being dependent on the production and export of raw materials, he stated that this has been the reason why growth in Africa has been sluggish, and has led to the spillover of lots of Africa’s young people fleeing the continent.

“The solution required the industrialization of our continent and our own country, and taking the steps that will lead to the structural transformation. The measures that we have put in place for rural industrialization are also part of those measures of recovery,” President Akufo-Addo said.