AGRICULTURE

C GONJA: Planting for food and jobs engages 1,811 farmers
Over 1,811 farmers have been registered in the Central Gonja District to benefit from the government's agriculture flagship programme, "Planting for Food and Jobs".

Date Created : 7/24/2017 7:12:58 AM : Story Author : Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistrcts.com

District Chief Executive of Central Gonja District Assembly, Mustapha Mahama, who made the disclosure at the first ordinary meeting of the second session of the fourth assembly assured the people that government is not relenting on its quest to achieving food security and creating more jobs through agriculture production.

 According to him, since the launch of the programme in April this year in Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region, concrete steps have been taken to get the programme going in all 2016 districts across the country including the formation of regional and districts committees that will ensure successful implementation of the programme.

 The DCE stated that government has already supplied the Central Gonja district with farm inputs including;

a.    Eight thousand, seven hundred and eleven (8,711) bags of fertilizers in various category (sulphate of ammonia, NPK and Yara legume).
b.    One hundred (100) bags of maize seeds
c.    Six hundred and thirteen (613) bags of rice seeds
d.    Forty-seven (47) bags of Soya beans seed

 He said while some of these inputs have already been distributed, others are still ongoing, and expressed hope that beneficiaries will make good use of the opportunities available to them to better their lives.

 The estimation of government is to increase the production of various crops through this initiative. Thus increase maize production by 30%, rice by 49%, soybean by 25% and sorghum by 28%.

 This is also expected to inure to the creation of 750,000 jobs and help stem the migratory tide from the rural areas to the urban centres for non - existing jobs.

 Towards this end, Government has reduced the price of fertilizer by half and this is already being implemented.