The government’s flagship initiative which was launched by President John Dramaani Mahama is designed to accelerate the transformation and modernisation of the nation’s agricultural sector. The beneficiary farmers were drawn from the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Ashanti Regions, with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) partnering PFAG to train them with support from the STAR Ghana Foundation. 

The beneficiaries were expected to go back and pass the knowledge acquired to other farmers of the Association in their respective regions. Addressing the opening session of the training at Techiman, Dr Benjamin Sarfo, the Programme Officer of the PFAG, stressed the need to enlighten the farmers on government policies and programmes to enable them to also benefit. He lauded the implementation of the Feed Ghana programme, saying it would make farming more attractive, improve crops yields, thereby boosting food productivity. 

Mr Stephen Aidoo, the Techiman Municipal Director of Agriculture said the Feed Ghana programme had a lot of benefits, as well as several incentive packages for the farmers. He advised farmers who did not have the Ghana Card to obtain one, saying it was a requirement to enroll and benefit from the programme, urging them to form groups at their community levels. 

Mr Aidoo said it was mandatory for every interested farmer to belong to a farmer group of between 15 and 40 members, explaining that seedlings and other incentives under the programme would be distributed among these groups. He said each of the groups ought to register and obtain a recognised bank account too, saying the initiative covered production and processing of vegetables as well as rice, yam, soya beans, cassava, plantain and poultry products. Other economic tree crops like mangoes, oil palm, coconut, cashew and livestock farming were also covered under the programme implementation, he said. 

Mr Aidoo said the Feed Ghana prioritised agriculture infrastructure development, adding that factories and storage facilities would be established to prevent post-harvest losses. The initiative further encouraged crop development and would establish farmer services centers, and that the government intended to collaborate with traditional authorities to secure lands for the youth who were interested in farming too, he said. 

The Reverend Philip Kennedy Sam, the Bono Regional Crop Officer of MoFA advised the farmers to leverage the initiative and improve their socio-economic livelihoods. He urged them to always engage and share ideas with the Agriculture Extension Agents of the ministry, to improve their farm work.