President Mahama pledges agriculture at heart of national economic transformation with ‘Feed Ghana’ launch in Techiman

President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled his government’s flagship “Feed Ghana Programme” in Techiman, the Bono East regional capital, with the aim of bolstering agriculture’s appeal and enhancing both nutrition and food security across Ghana.

According to the President, the Feed Ghana Programme will be underpinned by several key interventions designed to encourage the participation of young people and women in agriculture.

Anticipated to be a significant catalyst for job creation and increased yields, President Mahama stated that the programme will adopt a comprehensive approach to modernise agriculture and will place particular emphasis on value chain methodologies to improve service delivery. He affirmed that the implementation of the Feed Ghana Programme will focus on maximising food production, nutrition, and the adoption of smart agricultural systems to enhance self-reliance.

President Mahama announced that the Feed Ghana Programme will ensure the de-risking and expansion of agricultural lending. He added, “It will also concentrate on fostering stronger connections between smallholder farmers and anchor farmers to facilitate mutually beneficial relationships regarding input access, technical support, and guaranteed markets, among other aspects.”

The components outlined included the promotion of smart agriculture, a Grains and Legumes Development Project, a Vegetable Development Project, known popularly as ‘Yeredua’, and the provision of Institutional Farming.

The president also highlighted the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Programme, dubbed the ‘Nkoko Nketenkete programme’, a livestock development project, a tree development project, as well as agro-production enclaves and infrastructure project among the suite of initiatives. Another component he mentioned was the Innovative Agriculture Finance Programme, through which loans and insurance services will be prioritised to benefit both lenders and borrowers.

During the launch of the Feed Ghana Programme, the President addressed the critical challenges facing Ghana’s agricultural sector. He asserted that Ghana urgently needs to intensify efforts to translate the nation’s agricultural potential into tangible, sustainable progress to feed its populace, create employment, and raise incomes. He declared: “The time has come for bold and decisive actions; we must no longer treat agriculture as an afterthought.

“Agriculture must be placed at the very heart of our national economic transformation. In this spirit, my government is rolling out the ‘Feed Ghana Programme’ under the overarching theme of the ‘Agricultural for Economic Transformation Agenda’ (AETA). This is a comprehensive vision to modernise and expand agriculture to generate jobs, reduce food price inflation, and strengthen food security.”

He further elaborated, “The Feed Ghana Programme is our flagship initiative; it serves as a strategic umbrella under which all agricultural projects and interventions will be executed. It is founded on deliberate actions to increase food production, promote modern farming practices, strengthen infrastructure, and develop agro-industrial zones across the length and breadth of Ghana.”

It was revealed during the launch that the Feed Ghana Programme will prioritise commodities such as maize, rice, and soya bean, alongside tomatoes, onions, and chili peppers, as well as cassava, plantains, and yams. Other key industrial crops under the initiative include cocoa, mango, rubber, coconut, shea, coffee, cashew, oil palm, ginger, and cotton. The initiative also places significant emphasis on livestock, including poultry, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs.

President Mahama informed the attendees that the Feed Ghana Programme would intervene through the promotion of smart agriculture, where farmer service centres would be established nationwide to provide mechanisation services, quality inputs, finance, market access, primary processing, and training for farmers.

“In addition,” he stated, “we will create farm banks in designated zones to support young agriculture entrepreneurs and enhance national food production. The grains and legumes development project will see us scaling up the production of maize, rice, soya bean, and sorghum, both for consumption, for agro-processing, and for export.”

Other component initiatives mentioned included the vegetable development project and institutional farming, where households and institutions would be encouraged to cultivate vegetables and other foodstuffs to improve nutrition, increase self-reliance, and encourage students and young people to view agriculture as a viable career path.

Another component of the initiative that the former president emphasised was the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Programme, which he referred to as the ‘Nkoko Nketenkete programme’. He expressed concern that:

“Ghana imports almost four hundred million United States Dollars (USD 400,000,000) worth of chicken every year, a phenomenon of which we must all be ashamed.”

“The ‘Nkoko Nketenkete programme’, which will be implemented in collaboration with the Poultry Farmers Association, will support hatcheries, feed mills, veterinary services, and poultry processing centres. Fifty anchor farmers will be registered this year alone, who will be supported to produce four million birds, equivalent to 10,000 metric tonnes of chicken.

Additionally, a supplementary programme will involve the registration of 55,000 households across the country to produce 500 birds each year. We believe that this will result in the rearing of over one million birds, thereby improving the incomes of women and the nutrition of their children.”

The Ghana National Service Scheme, the Ghana Prisons Service, the National Youth Employment Agency, faith-based organisations, and several public universities have already expressed interest in participating in the initiative.

Report by Dauda Zul-Kiful for Asaase News in the Bono East Region