Gov’t ready to support SHSs willing to start farms – Agric Minister

The government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), has revealed it is ready to support senior high schools (SHS) across the country willing to go into school farming.

The Minister in Charge of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, made this known at a press briefing on Monday, March 11, 2024, to open registration for farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs phase II programme.

According to the Minister, senior high schools willing to start school farms are going to benefit from a partial grant programme where the ministry will help them with land development and provide them with seeds and fertilisers to enable them to sustain their farms.

“We want to give every secondary school in Ghana who is willing to do school farming, the ministry now stands ready to support them especially those in the southern and middle belt”, Dr. Acheampong said.

This move by the government is to help schools feed themselves with the crops they produce, thereby allowing crops produced by farmers to be sent to the market.

Dr. Bryan Acheampong noted that this will also reduce the pressure on food and stabilise prices across the country.

Giving details of the registration module, the minister noted that the registration would officially kick-start on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, on the Ghana Agriculture and Agribusiness Platform (GhAAP), across all 261 districts in the 16 regions in the country where farmers, in general, can register and be on the platform, which will enable Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) and other technical officers to monitor works on various farms.

“This module is to trace the agricultural value chain and make sure all the actors have their hands on deck to solve all the problems in the sector”, the minister emphasized.

Source:myrepubliconline