2,160 service personnel to push 'Planting for Food and Jobs'

The National Service Secretariat (NSS) has deployed a total of 2,000 service personnel for the 2017/18 service year to the agriculture and agro-business sector to support the government's "Planting for Food and Jobs" programme.

"In accordance with the scheme's commitment to meeting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's vision, we have deployed 2,160 service personnel to the agricultural sector for the government's "Planting for Food and Jobs" policy," Acting Executive Director of the scheme, Ussif Mustapha, said at an official deployment ceremony in Accra.

The move from the NSS comes at a time that the country's agric sector is in dire need of youthful expertise to prop up the gains of the dominant economic area.

The "Planting for Food and Jobs" programme is an initiative of the Akufo-Addo government as a structured approach to revitalise the agriculture sector to among others, create jobs for the youth, improve food security and push the country's export-led economy agenda.

A total of 91,871 tertiary graduates will be undertaking their national service this year comprised of 76,908 for the public sector and 14,963 for the private sector.

Aside agriculture, service personnel have been deployed to the areas of urban sanitation and traffic, community health, education and administrative support as well as business services.

The national service scheme mandates fresh university or tertiary education graduates that are above 18 years to serve the country for a maximum period of one year, whether that person schooled in the country or abroad.

This year, the scheme has introduced an SMS short code system that allows eligible service personnel to check their posting by texting *714*77# using MTN, Tigo, Airtel and Vodafone only.

To avoid impersonation or unexpected attempts to compromise the process, all perspective service personnel would be required to provide their students identification card or driver's license.

A free service on-campus orientation has been organised by the scheme to help personnel get adequate information on their postings.

Registration for this year's national service will commence at all regional sectors across the country from July 17 to August 17.