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North Tongu Banana Farming Project To Provide Over 600 Jobs – Agric Minister

Source The Ghana Report

The Ministry for Agriculture has set up a banana farming project in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region, expected to provide food under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme by the government.

According to the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the project will also provide jobs for over 600 people in the district.

He explained that the PFJ Market, introduced by the government to sell food at a lower cost, is not only available to provide food but also jobs and make life meaningful for ordinary Ghanaians.

According to Dr Afriyie Akoto, the banana farming project is expected to produce about 1000 tonnes of bananas annually to be exported to other countries.

“The $2 billion that cocoa gives us is not enough, we need 10-15 billion a year, and by this step, we can reach there. It is a positive thing. Ghanaians don’t eat bananas. We are not like the East African people; that banana is like their plantain. We eat plantain, not bananas. We are producing top-quality bananas for export to earn foreign exchange for this country, and this is what this project is about”.

As part of measures to curtail high foodstuff prices, the government introduced the PFJ market to cart foodstuffs from the farms directly to market centres at a reduced cost.

The programme filled the gap for inadequate products such as yams, cassava, plantain, tomatoes and rice.

This eliminated middlemen, high cost of transportation and other costs that make the final product expensive at major markets in the cities.

Speaking on the progress of the PFJ Market initiative, Dr Akoto Osei stated that the ministry had extended sale centres to Okaishie, Makola, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Achimota, Madina, and Kumasi.

Some critics have raised concerns about the sustainability of the programme.

According to them, establishing such markets across the 16 regions will be daunting.

However, responding to the issues, Dr Akoto Osei explained that arrangements are being made to adequately cater for consumers in other cities outside of the capital, Accra.

“The Planting for Food and Jobs Market will soon be extended to Takoradi and Koforidua, which the ministry has scheduled for the Farmer’s Day celebration,” he noted.

Furthermore, he explained that the initiative has provided affordable foodstuffs at the major markets, cutting prices drastically.

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