The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has begun registering interested farmers under Phase Two of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, codenamed PFJ2.0, in all 261 districts across the country.

The registration exercise requires interested farmers and institutions or companies to visit their district agricultural directorate where extension officers will assist them by capturing their data with tablets supplied by the government.

To facilitate the process, a mobile and web application platform, the Ghana Agriculture and Agribusiness Platform (GhAAP), has been developed.

Additionally, agricultural extension agents (AEAs) and other technical officers have been trained in how to use the platform.

To participate in the programme, farmers or producers must have access to land or a farm, get their profile captured at the district level, be a Ghanaian citizen with a valid Ghana card and engage in farming on prioritised commodity crops, while a company or institution must be legally registered.

Under the programme, a smart farmer, smart farm, and digitised agriculture approach will be implemented using the GhAAP.

Eleven prioritised commodities will be considered under the PFJ2.0. These are poultry, rice, maize, soya bean, sorghum, tomato, onion, pepper, cassava, yam and plantain.

The interesting thing about the PFJ2.0 is that unlike the initial PFJ, which focused mainly on smallholder farmers, the PFJ2.0 includes commercial farmers.

The sector Minister, Dr Bryan Acheampong, who officially announced the registration exercise in Accra yesterday, invited interested farmers and producers to register with their local agricultural extension agents at the District Department of Agriculture.

He said a central digital platform would be used for real-time data capturing, monitoring, and evaluation, with the development of a user-friendly platform to track the programme's progress.

Dr Acheampong explained that the PFJ 2.0 programme was a carefully thought out initiative designed to build on the successes of the initial programme while addressing its limitations.

He pledged the commitment of the ministry to the successful implementation of this transformative approach, aiming to empower farmers, enhance productivity, and foster sustainable agricultural development in Ghana.

The minister explained that the PFJ 2.0 programme took a holistic view of the value chain approach by strengthening linkages among actors along selected agricultural commodity value chains and improving service delivery to maximise impact.

Dr Acheampong said a significant difference between PFJ 2.0, and the initial programme was the substitution of direct input subsidy with a smart agricultural financial support system in the form of a zero-interest input credit system, where payment would be in kind.

Touching on the implementation of the programme, he said the potential farmers would secure loans from financial institutions and would be required to pay back in kind, stressing that the programme was private-sector driven.

Sompaonline.com