The Ghana Soya Bean Farmers and Aggregators Association has called on the government to address the challenges of the first phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative to ensure the success of the new phase.

President Nana Akufo-Addo launched Phase two of the government’s flagship programme on agriculture, “Planting for Food and Jobs” on Monday, August 28, 2023.

The second phase of the project is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana with a focus on modernization through the development of a selected commodity value chain and active private sector participation.

The Director of Administration of the association, Abdul Hakeem Issah, stressed the need for a change of mindset by stakeholders to prevent recurrences of the problems that hindered the first phase.

“The first challenge has not been addressed, and we are bringing on another one,” he said. “With the earlier one, fertilizers were smuggled, and inputs were being given to party people instead of farmers. At the end of the day, party people were using these things to do business, and the resources were not getting to the farmers.”

“So, the point is that if these things are not checked, and the next thing comes on board, it will fail,” he said.