Accra, Jan. 27, GNA – Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Food and Agriculture, says the Government’s interventions for Greening Ghana for Food and Jobs initiative will build resilience against climate change and accelerate growth of the agricultural sector in an inclusive and sustainable manner.
He said the Government’s efforts at transforming the sector aimed at improving food security, creating job opportunities along the agricultural value chain, improving productivity at the farm level, ensuring availability of raw materials for industry, and improving management of natural resources and the environment.
He said various interventions under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), including Greening Ghana for Food and Jobs and other initiatives in the sector, had integrated climate change in their design and implementation.
For instance, he said, the use of climate resilient seeds, irrigation systems, weather technologies and farmer education were all geared towards greening Ghana for Food and Jobs.
Dr Akoto, speaking during a panel discussion at 73rd New Year School and Conference on the sub-theme: “Greening Ghana for Food and Jobs during the pandemic and beyond” said, the Ministry had also implemented specific projects in collaboration with development partners aimed at reducing the vulnerability of farmers to climate change and other shocks.
“These include the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Climate Resilience component under the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP), the African Development Bank Conservation Agriculture under the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) and the EU funded programme for Resilience against climate change among others,” he said.
Equally, he added that, the Planting for Export and Rural Development module, an initiative under the PFJ had far reaching effects on greening Ghana for Food and Jobs, in addition to the diversification of export and farmer incomes.
The Agric Minister said, under the module, job creation opportunities could be harnessed through land development, seedling production, planting, managing plantations and harvesting, adding that some 23 million seedlings of selected three crops had been raised in the last three years and distributed.
He said soil conservation practices to address soil losses by erosion, soil pollution, soil mineral leaching, and physical structure destruction was an important greening intervention since the absence of such corrective practices affected productivity, soil quality and sustainable agriculture.
He mentioned afforestation, mainly through replanting of cocoa as inherently to creating jobs while impacting positively on the environment, stressing that the combined effect of the specific interventions and practices accounted substantially for improved food production and security and ultimately resilience to climate change.
He maintained that achieving the goal of greening Ghana for food and jobs required greater action and a more concerted and coordinated effort by Government in scaling up climate smart projects.
“This approach will improve resilience to shocks and help strengthen our national food systems,” he said.
Dr Akoto noted that adopting sustainable production, post-production and consumption practices were essential elements for promoting the Greening Ghana agenda for food and jobs and said the objectives of Government’s overarching strategy of Planting for Food and Jobs was in sync with the agenda.
GNA