Support govt to ensure food security — Frimpong Addo
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong Addo, has urged private companies in the agricultural sector to support the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs Phase 2 (PFJ II) initiative aimed at delivering food security and resilience by providing farmers with the necessary inputs.
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That, he said, would further enhance the initiative’s underpinning model which included input credit system expected to solve critical challenges such as access to credit, quality of agro inputs, unstructured markets of agricultural produce and low mechanisation, among others.
Abundance
“The country can boast of abundant arable land for crop production, good soils for the production of a variety of crops, water resources for irrigation, favourable weather, and a diversity of food commodities that provide numerous avenues for job creation along the agriculture value chains,” he stressed.
Mr Addo was speaking at the maiden recognition ceremony organised by the Plant Protection And Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) in Accra.
It was to honour agriculture service provider and dealers in agrochemicals, Wynca Sunshine for supporting farmers over the years.
As part of the event, the company received a citation which spoke to its outstanding commitment and dedication to the agricultural sector.
Mr Frimpong, who in Charge of Crops, lauded the company for helping curb the distribution of fake pesticides which are injurious to the crops, farmers and final consumers by investing $6.5 million in the building of a modern manufacturing factory.
The Deputy Minister also commended the company for always supporting the National Best Famers awards with cash and agric inputs and appealed to them to also support the PFJ II
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“I am optimistic that with the sound footing of this intervention and your support, the country will be fully self-sufficient in food production and thus, the importation of food commodities from outside and even neighbouring West African countries, will be a thing of the past,” he stressed.
The Director of the PPRSD, Eric Bentsil Quaye, said the agrochemical and services company was being recognised quality of inputs, consistency, timely, renewal of licensing and scale of operation which had aided farmers and improved crop yields and translated into gains for the economy.
The Director of Wynca Sunshine Ghana, Zhu Tao said the company had made considerable efforts, over the past 10 years to promote pesticide safety and the judicious and sensible use of agricultural inputs, especially chemical pesticides.
Programmes
That, he said, was achieved through voluntary programmes and initiatives such as product stewardship, training and capacity building, and industry responsible care.
Those efforts, he said, had contributed to enhancing the efficiency of the post-registration surveillance and management of chemical and nonchemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.
“In these efforts, the company had more than 100 training sessions for about 250,000 farmers on the judicious and sensible use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers.
We continue to support the Farmers' Day campaign in Ghana, with a cumulative grant of millions of race,” Mr Tao said.