A guinea fowl processing factory is set to be developed in Ghana. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nade the announcement and said that the factory will be developed in the Bawku Municipality of the Upper East Region.
The factory would be constructed under the ‘One District, One Factory’ initiative. Over 40 dams were built in the Kusaug Traditional Area as part of the ‘One District, One Factory’ policy. The president during his visit to the Upper East Region applauded the successful progress on the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme initiated in the area.
Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme
To revamp the agricultural sector, the government of Ghana introduced a flagship policy called Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) in 2017. The main aim of the programme is to address the declining growth of agriculture in Ghana. The policy focused on increasing food production and ensuring food security in the country as well as reducing the food import bills to the barest minimum, especially rice.
The project consists of five significant pillars; supply of improved seeds to farmers at subsidised prices (50% subsidy), supply of fertiliser at subsidised prices (50% price cut out), free extension services to farmers, marketing opportunities for produce after harvest, and E-Agriculture (a technological platform to monitor and track activities and progress of farmers through a database system) (PFJ, 2017).
Strengthening Agriculture
The five main crops selected are Maize, Rice, Soybeans, Sorghum and Vegetables (tomato, onion, Chili pepper) in line with priority crops as proposed in Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy II (FASDEP II) and its investment programme, the Medium-Term Agricultural Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) (PFJ, 2017).
“Last year, although we targeted 47,761 farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, in the end, we registered 66, 680 farmers, 20, 000 more that were not originally scheduled are now under the programme. Bawku Naba you can see how seriously the programme is unfolding, and on top of it too, the six warehouses in the Kusaug Traditional Area are being constructed and are 80% complete,” said the head of state.
The six warehouses under construction in the area, located at Kpalwega, Pusiga, Garu, Bugri, Binduri and Zebilla would enable farmers to store their produce, safeguard their incomes and strengthen Agriculture and farming activities.
