Agric minister explains why PFJ markets have ceased

The Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture in charge of crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, has rejected assertions that the government could not continue with the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Market initiative because it was not feasible.

Speaking in an interview on GhanaWeb’s ‘The Lowdown’ programme, which was aired on Monday, July 10, 2023, the deputy minister said that the government had no plans to make PFJ markets permanent.

According to him, the PFJ markets were just a temporary measure that was aimed at curbing the rising price of food items that was experienced in 2022.

“It was a stop-gap measure that we took at that time. We were getting close to Christmas and we all know what happened to Ghana between October and November 2022… food prices were hugely affected because of transportation and all that.

“So, the cost of transportation we needed to do something about it. We saw a lot of this food stuff when we went round the country… the price there were so cheap but in urban areas the prices were crazy.

“So, we decided to do something about it. Then we decided to quickly organise this one which we called the PFJ markets… it was for a short period and a purpose,” he told the host of Lowdown, Daniel Oduro.

The deputy indicated that the PFJ Markets programme served its purpose and helped reduce the prices of food items in Ghana.

About PFJ Markets

As part of the efforts to control prices of food items, the then Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, introduced the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Markets at the forecourt of the ministry to make food items available and affordable to Ghanaians

The initiative which started on Friday, November 11, with bunches of plantain is aimed at cushioning Ghanaians in the face of food price hikes in the country.

The ministry expanded this initiative to include cabbage yams, carrot pepper spring onions, cucumbers and nice and opened the markets in several parts of the country.

Watch Frimpong Addo’s remarks in the last episode of The Lowdown below:

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In the meantime, watch the latest episode of #SayItLoud on GhanaWeb TV with Etsey Atisu below: