"PLANTING FOR FOOD AND JOBS": MR PRESIDENT, YOU NEED TO SCRUTINIZE THE PROGRAM

Currently, the sector Minister's statement that the said program has created about seven hundred and forty thousand jobs (740, 000) received sharp reaction to the contrary from key players in the farming sector.

Indeed, I agree with this disagreement to some extent and would like to add my voice; not to downplay the program but to tap the shoulders of the President to pay key attention to the program and if possible to ensure that he asks for a decentralized briefing from the grassroots through the Information Ministry that can be provided by the Information Services Department (ISD) offices on the ground and not to be left only to the Agric Ministry.

Prez Akufo Addo

Indeed, I am convinced that if the President focuses his eyes on the said program and make it attractive to attract young graduates from our universities, the unemployment rate may drastically reduce as we increase our food stock.

Now, the facts;
What is misleading currently about this program as far as the job creation component is concerned is a misleading data about how the program has been rolled out so far. The hard fact is that where you will find that the program brought in new farmers on board with corresponding jobs for other additional farm hands may be negligible, if any at all. 

The Agric Ministry, perhaps, comfortably sits in Accra and appears to do its calculations on the seed and fertilizer distributions under the program to suggest that those numbers brought in new farmers and therefore created new jobs. This may be erroneous.

Agric Minister, Dr Akoto Afriyie

The hard fact is that all these seeds and fertilizers distributed under the 'Planting for Food and Jobs' program, though all the recipient farmers registered prior to the distribution of these items, these farmers were virtually existing farmers. 

So, it will be misleading to say, based on these items distributed and the recipients therein, that new jobs have been created just on the basis of the said distribution without further details. The best would be that we may increase our food stock.

In Yilo Krobo Municipal for instance, the following items were received under the 'Planting for Food and Jobs' program per the 2017 national budget;

SEEDS RECEIVED
Maize - 8,460kg (188bags); Rice - 2,000kg (50bags); Tomato - 24 Sachets; Pepper - 225 Sachets; 59 Sachets; Onion - 59 Sachets.)

FERTILIZER RECEIVED
NPK - 2,O13bags; UREA - 1, 007bags

Out of the above and as of September 2017, the following were respectively issued to farmers under the program;
Maize - 5,328kg; Rice - 400kg; Vegetables - 500kg; NPK - 1,244bags; UREA - 647bags.

Total number of farmers in the Yilo Krobo who registered under the 'Planting for Food and Jobs' were 555 farmers and out of which 243 farmers benefited from the distribution of the seeds and fertilizers as of September 2017 and these were largely to the best of my knowledge existing farmers. 

Devastated farm by fall army worms

However, as of 13th December 2017 when the Yilo Krobo Municipality held its Town Hall Meeting under the auspices of the Information Ministry carried by the Yilo Krobo office of the ISD, there was no data to suggest that the program had created any significant new jobs in the Municipality.

It is my advice to you, Mr. President therefore, not to rely too much on some of your appointees at the centre without touching base with the grassroots where this program is to be felt, else you repeat the mistakes of your predecessors. The arm chair jobs by some of our leaders can be costly politically and you must watch it.

Data however available at the Yilo Krobo Municipal Agric Directorate shows that farmers within the same period cultivated 592 acres of Maize (236.8ha); 25 acres of Rice (10ha) and two (2) Hectares of Vegetables totalling a coverage of 622 acres (248.8ha) of farm lands in the Municipality.

 Data also available at the same Agric Directorate suggests that Yilo Krobo has about 50,951 farmers representing 58% of the Municipal population and out of which only 555 registered under the 'Planting for Food and Jobs' program representing 1.09%. 

This should tell us that we have a long way to go as a nation in the agriculture sector as far as sustainable food production and its corresponding job creations are concerned.

Long live mother Ghana. Shalom!

Writer: Dennis Akwettey