I’ve corrected your bad record in the agric sector – Akufo-Addo to Mahama

On the occasion of the Farmer’s Day celebration on Friday, November 6, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has noted that his administration has made a number of investments to grow the agric sector.

President Akufo-Addo explained in a statement to mark the day that he inherited a very weak sector of the economy that was doing between 0.9 percent in 2014 and 2.9 percent in 2016.

These statistics, he said, fell short of the targets for member states of the African Union (AU).

“In the immediate years before my assumption of office the performance of the agriculture sector was nothing short of abysmal, evidenced by the growth rates of 0.9% in 2014 and 2.9% in 2016, well below the African Union target of 6 per cent for Members states.

“In order to remedy the situation, the Akufo-Addo government took the firms decision to embark on a well-thought-through the programme for the modernization and transformation of Ghana’s agriculture.

“This includes increasing productivity on smallholding farms; enhancing food security; diversifying agricultural export earnings; promoting agro-industrialization and import substitution, and creating jobs for the youth.

“The programme for Planting for Food and Jobs has since evolved, over the years, to reflect the comprehensive nature of Government’s strategy to improve agriculture with introduction of five modules i.e food crops, planting for export and rural development, rearing for foods and jobs, Greenhouse villages and farm mechanization and Agro-processing.”