Vegetable farmers laud govt's planting for food and jobs programme

Vegetable farmers, in the coastal areas of the Volta Region, have commended the government’s for its flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), but asked for support to reduce post-harvest losses.

The PFJ is a government’s designed and implemented programme structured around five pillars, including seed, fertiliser, extension services, marketing and monitoring, aimed at promoting growth in food production, security and creating jobs across the country.

Some farmers, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the government needed to address the challenges of access to seeds and a ready market to ensure the investment in subsidies made the necessary impact.

Mr Charles Evedzi, a farmer at Denu, who cultivates cabbage, lettuce, beetroot, carrot, cauliflower and onion, said the PFJ programme was good but the seeds, market and electricity bill remained the biggest challenges.

“The PFJ is helping me a lot especially with the fertiliser. Formerly, the prices were high but now the government pays half the price for us. But seeds and market are not helping. Our soil is good for some types of seeds only but when we request for those, we don't get them.

We have to go to Togo and elsewhere for seeds. Also, markets for our vegetables are sometimes difficult such that at the end of a farming season, what you realise isn't enough to settle the cost of power used to irrigate the farm.”

Madam Happy Hamenu, who is into okra, pepper and tomato production at Anloga, said vegetable farmers had to buy seeds and fertilisers at high prices and were therefore unable to make any profit due to post-harvest losses.

She asked for a tomato processing factory in the area for a ready market for their perishable produce.

Mr Roland Tudzi, Chairman of Keta Vegetable Farmers and Marketers Association, said the members complained about seeds and a ready market, noting that when the vegetables were in season, traders bought them at cheap prices.

He called on the government to, among others, provide mechanised tillers, address funding challenges to farmers and take steps to prevent post-harvest losses so farmers could get good rewards for their toils.

Reacting to the concerns of the farmers, Mr George Boahen Oduro, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of perennial crops, said the Ministry was taking steps to address the challenges.

He said the government was partnering with GIZ to support farmers' change to the use of solar panel systems for irrigation to avoid the high electricity cost and hinted of plans to organise a management workshop which would benefit farmers.

Godwin Tettey, Director, Department of Agriculture Keta, explained that the prices of fertilizer were high because the farmers undertook all-year-round farming and bought the inputs at open market prices after the subsidy period, which spans March to October.