Former President John Dramani Mahama has said the Planting For Food and Jobs initiative has been grossly mismanaged.
Mr Mahama noted that despite the initiative, Ghana is facing the highest food inflation in the world at 122 per cent.
In a tweet, Mr Mahama said “Ghana has the highest food inflation in the world at 122%, notwithstanding the much touted but grossly mismanaged Planting for Food & Jobs programme. We are grappling with T-bill rates of about 30% as local investors in financial instruments suffer huge risks.”
Planting for Food and Jobs was one of the flagship agricultural campaign of the Akufo-Addo-led government, with five (5) implementation modules.
The first module PFJ (Crops) aims to promote food security and immediate availability of selected food crops on the market and also provide jobs.
This module was officially launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo at Goaso on April 19, 2017 in the then Brong Ahafo Region.
The five Modules are: •Food Crops (PFJ) , Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), Greenhouse Technology Villages (3 Villages), Rearing for Food and Jobs ( RFJ), Agricultural Mechanization Services (AMSECs).
Recently the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said the government’s flagship programme in the agric sector, the PF&J is doing well.
In his view, the initiative has prevented food shortage from happening in Ghana.
Speaking in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on TV3’s New Day show, Thursday August 11, he said “people wrongfully say there is food shortage, there is no food shortage in Ghana.
“If you look at all the sectors , the agric sector stands out as the sector which is doing well.
The sector, he said, grew by 4.9 per cent in 2019 to 8.1per cent in 2021.
The “Planting for Food and Jobs is a good success,” he stressed.