Former National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) Kofi Adams claims the GHC560m seed money for the Akufo Addo government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs was secured by the erstwhile Mahama administration.
The Planting for Foods and Jobs programme was launched by the president in 2017 to help address the declining growth of the agricultural sector of the country.
As part of the programme, Ghanaians have been admonished to take up agriculture as a full-time business to enable the country to produce enough to feed itself and for export.
Under the programme, which was started with a seed capital of GHS560 million, more than 200,000 farmers have been provided with fertilisers as well as other farming inputs.
Spanning a period of five years, the programme also hopes to create jobs to deal with the unemployment challenges in the country.
According to the Agric Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the programme created some 745,000 jobs in its first year (2017) alone.
But speaking to host Akwasi Nsiah on Ghana Kasa on Kasapa FM, Kofi Adams stated the Akufo Addo government must acknowledge the role played by the erstwhile Mahama administration and credit it for its foresight.
“The money invested in the Planting for Food Programme being run by the Akufo Addo government was a facility secured from the Canadian Support by ex-President Mahama, so the funds were already available. It is part of the Canadian facility that came in to support the enhancement of agriculture in Ghana and they’ve have rechristened it Planting for Food and Agriculture.”
He added: The Akufo Addo government claims to have channelled additional funds to the Planting for Food and Jobs programme but that does not amount to even a quarter of what was secured by the Mahama administration which they inherited. They not done anything new since they assumed power.”
