230,000-acre land cultivated in Upper West Region under Planting for Food and Jobs
Ninety-four farmers in the Upper West Region this year cultivated 230,000 acres of land under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.
Among the crops planted by most of the farmers are cereals, particularly maize.
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The Upper West Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr Emmanuel Sasu-Yeboah, disclosed this in an interview after he had led a team to visit some selected farms in the region last Saturday.
They included the Ghana Prisons Farm at Baayiri in the Wa East District, where the inmates of prisons had cultivated 40 acres of maize on their 110-acre land.
Favourable weather
Mr Sasu-Yeboah described this year’s weather as favourable, with sufficient rainfall and sunshine.
He predicted a bumper harvest this season, as more people had embraced the PFJ programme in the region.
The director expressed satisfaction at the government’s commitment to improve post-harvest losses and create jobs for the youth to reduce poverty in rural communities.
According to Mr Sasu-Yeboah, a One-district, One-warehouse project at Bussie in the Daffiama/Bussie/Issa District was also progressing steadily.
The project, for which contract was awarded in August this year, will be completed in February 2019.
He also said the directorate had been able to combat the Fall Army Worms (FAW) in the region.
Financial constraints
Briefing the team, a Deputy Superintendent of Prisons (DSP) Christian Abiti, said the institution had not been able to cultivate the entire land due to financial constraints.
According to him, the ploughing of the field, farm implements, fertiliser, seeds and chemicals were all procured for them by the National Youth Authority (NYA).
The Upper West Regional Coordinator of the NYA, Mr Mumuni Sulemana, said the authority had sponsored other farmer-based organisations in the region under the PFJ programme.
