At a round table discussion with Development Partners on PFJ 2.0 held at the Kempinski Hotel, Accra, on Thursday, 26th October 2023, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Bryan Acheampong called for Support of Development Partners to consolidate the gains of the agriculture sector under PFJ. 20.

Addressing the DP's Dr. Bryan indicated that the PFJ 2.0 is a transformative initiative that aims to consolidate and build on earlier efforts under the initial PFJ. It seeks to address peculiar challenges within the sector identified after an extensive review process.

The Minister alluded to the fact that the PFJ 1 was challenged with limited access and high cost of credit to agriculture value chain actors, barriers to entry into agribusinesses, especially for young prospective farmers, poor access to high-quality inputs, unsustainable subsidy; and unstructured markets of agricultural produce.

The overall goal of the PFJ 2.0 programme is to transform and modernize agriculture in Ghana through the development of initially, eleven selected agricultural value chains with active private-sector participation. ‘Specifically, the programme is designed to ensure food availability, reduce food price inflation, promote import substitution, promote exports, create jobs, and ensure food security and resilience’ the Minister said.

Dr. Bryan therefore said that the active participation of the private sector in the value chain; from input distribution through to production, processing, and marketing will go a long way to ensuring that the goals for the sector are achieved.  

DPs were assured of government's efforts to create the right policy environment and incentives to promote private investment and capital injection into the value chains.

Dr. Bryan was optimistic that if the Secort worked together, it would ensure cost-effective use of capital to achieve common development objectives. The Minister also called for an alignment of programmes for effective resource allocation.

Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaa Boamah