The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in the Upper East Region, has revealed that it has made a projection of 69,000 farmers to benefit from Planting for Food and Jobs Programme in the region for 2018 farming season.
The government of Ghana in 2017 initiated the programme and recently signed a 39 million dollar loan agreement with the African Development Fund (ADF) to support programme. The facility is to finance the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) for the next five years.
Upper East Regional Director of MoFA, Francis Ennor, tells TopNews Ghana, though the programme was successful last year, about 40% of the beneficiary farmers still owe the programme which is financed by a revolving fund through MoFA. Though he admits there is an improvement in the recovery rate, the spate at which the recovery is being done is very low.
He, therefore, appeals to farmers who still have not paid to do so for others to benefit.
In spite of the high number of defaulting farmers, Mr. Ennor disclosed that a target of 69,000 farmers would benefit from the programme this year.
Source: TopNewsGhana.com