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Nana Addo promises one district, one warehouse
Government has promised to construct 1000 metric tonne-capacity warehouses in the 216 districts
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According to him, the facilities will provide handling and storage base for the surpluses anticipated under his ambitious Planting for Food and Jobs initiative.
He said "Government intends to construct a 1000 metric tonne capacity warehouse in each of the 216 districts. The purpose of these warehouses will be to handle produce as well as to store the anticipated surpluses under the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign."
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Speaking at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region during the launch of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, the president said government will also expand all feeder roads in rural areas and food-growing areas in the country to avoid post-harvest losses.
"In the Asian experience, the existence of a relatively extensive road network that carries fertiliser and other inputs to the farms and carries farm output to the markets has set them apart from us in Ghana.
"Government will also expand the feeder road and farm track networks and mitigate post-harvest losses and also ensure foodstuffs are available to customers," he stated.
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Some 200, 000 farmers in the region are set to benefit from the programme.
In the 2017 budget, the government earmarked GHȻ560 million for the initiative expected to create over 70, 000 jobs.
Planting for Food and Jobs, he explained, will be anchored on the pillars that will transform Ghanaian agriculture: the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilizers, the provision of dedicated extension services, a marketing strategy and the use of e-Agriculture.
"The Planting for Food and Jobs programme is expected to increase the production of maize by 30 per cent; rice by 49 per cent; soybean by 25 per cent; and sorghum by 28 per cent from current production levels. This programme will create 750,000 jobs in both direct and indirect employment," he added.
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Assuring that all the necessary measures have been put in place to guarantee the success of the programme, President Akufo-Addo indicated that to ensure fertilizer is readily available to the farmer at affordable prices, government has reduced the prices of fertiliser by 50%.
"A 50kg bag of NPK fertiliser, the fertiliser most used by farmers, up to now has been costing GH¢115. Under this government, farmers will only pay GH¢57.50 for it. Likewise, a 50kg bag of urea now sells at GH¢47.50, as opposed to GH¢80 last year," he said.
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