Targets for products under PFJ exceeded – President Akufo-Addo

TARGETS for priority products under the second phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme have been exceeded for all products except poultry.

The products are maize, rice, soya beans, sorghum, tomatoes, pepper, onion, cassava, yam and plantain.

This was disclosed by President Akufo Addo in his state of the nation address delivered to Parliament today in Accra. 

Last year, government reviewed the PFJ programme which which has been operational since 2017. Drawing insights from the review, the government, under the leadership of the new Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong launched the second phase of the PFJ. 

The second phase designed to span five years aims to ensure food self-sufficiency and resilience with strategic targets established for 11 priority products across different time frames, including the immediate term (September to December 2023), short term (year 2024), medium term (2025 to 2026), and long term (2026 to 2028). 

These targets serve as a roadmap for the programme’s execution, guiding efforts to achieve food security and agricultural sustainability.

The President emphasized the importance of food self-sufficiency for national security and prosperity in the country stating that the government has been working towards that goal since 2017. 

“I am happy to report that production estimate for these priority products reveal that the plan target for the year have been exceeded for all the products except poultry. Poultry obviously requires extra attention and that is exactly what we are doing. 

We have every intention of meeting the domestic production target for poultry this year 2024 and moving on to production level that will lead to reduction in poultry import.” he said.

“We envisage a vigorous cooperation between government and the private sector to achieve the set target,” he added.