Peki-Agate (V/R), Dec. 15, GNA- Mr Godwin Kwame Dadzawa, the South Dayi District Chief Executive (DCE) has disclosed that the Assembly would from next year begin to produce a variety of seedlings to support farmers in the district and beyond.
He said plans are afar to produce oil palm, cashew, mango, citrus, and coconut to support farmers.
He said the project would be spearheaded by the district’s department of agriculture under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) initiative, and that provision had been made in the Assembly’s 2022 composite budget to ensure its successful implementation.
Mr Dadzawa speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said the agenda for transforming agriculture called for investing many resources in critical areas of the sector to stimulate growth on a sustainable basis.
He said the strategy to link agriculture to industry, under the one District one Factory programme, value chain development, and diversification, improving agricultural infrastructure and mechanisation would be pursued aggressively.
The DCE disclosed that a total of 3,417 farmers, comprising 2,410 males and 1,007 females in the district have benefited under the government’s subsidised programme this year.
Farm inputs including; 31, 707 bags of NPK, 3,000 bags of urea and 101,200 bags of liquid organic fertilizer, and 300 bags of granular organic fertilizer were distributed to farmers.
The farmers also benefited from maize (open-pollinated variety) 121 bags, maize (hybrid) 240 bags, and 1,000 bags of tomato seeds, 500 and 1,000 sachets of onion and cucumber seeds respectively in the year under review.
Mr Dadzawa commended farmers for the invaluable role they played in the sustenance of life and for their enormous contribution to the development of the local and national economy.
He said it was unambiguous that the country could not realise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals two, which set to combat hunger and reduce it to the barest minimum.
“Building synergies through effective collaboration of stakeholders is essential if we are to succeed in achieving the nation’s goal in the agricultural sector, he said, adding that the sector needed innovative and results-driven approach and bold decisions underpinned by the strong political will to make it successful.”
Mr Dadzawa said the agricultural sector required a paradigm shift from production-based to business-oriented one to promote value chain development and entrepreneurship.
The DCE said the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda imposed a duty on all citizens to help ensure that the self-reliance the country was yearning for was brought to fruition.
Mr Dadzawa said the government would continue to work hard to ensure that agriculture remained the nation’s pride, and ensured that farmers were treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
He said the planting for food and jobs initiative strongly signaled the government’s determination to make agriculture the mainstay of the country’s economy as the initiative focused on improving yields, and food security.
GNA