General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is claiming the erstwhile Mahama administration secured funding for the government’s flagship Planting for Food & Jobs programmes.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the NDC government secured funding from the Canadian government to start the programme but lost the 2016 election to the ruling New Patriotic Party.
The Planting for Foods and Jobs programme was launched by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017.
The aim of the flagship programme is to help address the declining growth of the agricultural sector in the country.
But the programme has suffered some setbacks including shortage of fertilisers leading to shortage of food. This has resulted in astronomical increase in prices of foodstuff.
Though the government has made efforts to address the situation, some poultry farmers are still complaining about shortage of maize.
These concerns, General Mosquito said vindicates his position that the Planting for Food and Jobs programme under President Akufo-Addo is a “failure”.
According to him, prices of goods have skyrocketed due to the inability of the government to have a sustainable plan for the programme.
General Mosquito, as he is popularly called, said the reason for the food shortage is because the GH¢560 million from the Canadian government has run out.
“Government has run out of the funds it inherited from the Mahama government that is why the Agric Ministry is struggling to sustain the Planting for Food & Jobs programme,” he said in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Thursday.
Mr Nketia assured an NDC government will roll out a very sustainable programme in the Agric sector should it win the 2024 general election.
Play attached audio for more:
