GHANA – The government of Ghana has started work on 100 warehouses nationwide for the Planting for Food and Jobs [PFJ] Programme whose objective is to ensure availability of food in the country.
The food reserves will be constructed in various districts and locations, initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Buffer Stock Company.
The 1000-metric grain capacity warehouses would serve as storage facilities for any excess farm produce that will be brought by the farmers as well as receiving any commodities or consumables for storage for as long as it may take before they are sent to the market.
Each facility would occupy a land area of 80 by 120 meters and the contractor had six months to complete the project.
Mr. Abraham John Musah, on behalf of the contractor, Pozie Limited said when completed the warehouse would have an office, a mechanized borehole, a changing room for staff, a Security Post and a laboratory where the grains could be tested for quality assurance.
PFJ is the government’s flagship programme launched by President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Goaso in April 2017.
In its first year of implementation, it produced a total crop value of US$270.2 million as a result of the use of labour, improved seeds and fertilisers combined with increased extension service delivery.
It realized production of an additional 485,000 MT of maize; 179,000 MT of rice; and 45,200 MT of vegetables plus a total of 745,000 jobs, created mainly in the rural economy in 2017.
According to the Minister for Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a total of 134,000 MT of fertiliser were distributed to farmers in 2016 and in 2017, the figure rose to 296,000 MT, as a result of the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign.
The minister said he was certain the programme is on course to deliver on its objectives of transforming the Ghanaian economy and delivering the needed jobs.
