PFJ started having issues when it lost focus – Abu Sakara

An agronomist and politician, Dr. Abu Sakara Foster, has said the government’s flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), encountered problems because it lost focus.

“When the program started, it was focused, and it helped people get the correct seeds to plant, and they had their yields. But later, the programme lost focus; other projects were added, but there were no funds to run them, so in the process, it diluted the effect. There were lots of problems; seed producers were paid after two years; who does such business? So those are the issues that affected the programme. The diversion to so many different other projects with limited resources, and then the implementation itself.

“Then the overblowing of the project. When you have a little bit of success and then you want to multiply the project by 1,000, people will have expectations. But when there’s a small problem, you will be found wanting. That is why, when we experienced food prices going up, people were questioning the relevance of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme. The Minister told us that there’s food in the rural areas, but until now, have the food prices come down? Have they not gone higher?” Dr. Sakara said this in an interview with Ghana Kasa on Kasapa 102.5FM on Thursday.

He further gave reasons why the fundamental objectives were not achieved.

"Apart from the management issues I have talked about, other issues militated against the success of the programme. Every business expects to have income. When you look at our farmers, the cost of fertilizer is three times higher, fuel prices are up, transportation fares have increased, and on top of that, the labor you hire on your farm also wants an increased price. One piece of land and the same yield—you have introduced all these costs, so what is left for the farmer? There are no incentives.

“So you realize that the farmers start switching crops, especially the ones that have export value, because for the same amount of energy, you’ll get a higher income, and that affects your food base. Because if you switch the efforts to things that are going outside, then definitely, things that are going to come inside will go down, and what will be the result? You will end up bringing stuff from outside. So that is the result we have. Do you consider that a success?” he said.