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Ghana: President Akufo-Addo targets 1 mln farmers to meet food security in four years
President Nana Akufo-Addo announced Monday plans to involve up 1 millions farmers in the country’s food security scheme that saves Ghana $2.2 billion annually.
Making agriculture one of the cornerstones of his development program for West African country, President Akufo-Addo indicated that around 200,000 farmers have been enrolled in a national program to help end Ghana’s spending on imported food.
“Initially, 200,000 farmers have been targeted in the program and they are going to be given support with inputs, fertilizers, insecticides and assistance from extension officers,” Akufo-Addo said during an address at the Africa Business Media Innovators conference in capital, Accra.
“We believe we can scale that, hopefully, so that at the end of my first term in 2021 we will have about a million Ghanaian farmers involved in the program,” he added.
The 73-year old President slammed Ghana’s foot import bill calling it ‘scandalous’. The Ghanaian government’s current annual food import spending hits $2.2 billion.
Most imported food commodities include wheat and rice, a report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization notes.
The Ghanaian leader also noted that the 1-million target can help engulf country’s youthful population.
“If this young population is not put into constructive activity, there is the possibility of considerable insecurity and incoherence in the future of our continent,” Akufo-Addo said.
Youth aged between 15 and 24 make up an important chunk of the country’s youth population and majority of them are still jobless.
