Support to the Planting gor Food and Jobs Campaign - TCP/GHA/3607
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Dramatic changes are taking place in farming worldwide as a result of globalization, liberalization and rapid urbanization. Farmers are intensifying production and diversifying their farm enterprises in order to improve their livelihoods. Technical knowledge is no longer enough: to be competitive and take advantage of new marketing opportunities, farmers need to adapt their farming practices and the crops they produce in response to market shifts. While Ghana is a food-deficit country, there are many opportunities in the agricultural sector for employing the country’s large youth population and increasing domestic production of marketable, nutritious foods. Attaining food security through self-sufficiency has been a policy priority in Ghana. The country’s long-term agricultural sector-specific policy objectives are elaborated in Ghana’s Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP I and II). The Medium-Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP I and II) for implementation of FASDEP I and II provides a roadmap for the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in Ghana. This plan focuses on investments for addressing constraints on productivity, market access and sustainable production. The Government, with support from FAO, recently validated the policy matrices for METASIP I and II, and developed a roadmap for METASIP III (2018-2021) known as “Investing for Food and Jobs”. The Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Campaign represents a flagship programme under METASIP III aimed at ensuring sustainability. Increasing farmers’ incomes by taking advantage of market opportunities and enhancing efficiencies requires capacity building to improve farmers’ decision-making and business skills in this rapidly changing environment. This includes better farm management skills for market competitiveness. In order to support them and create an enabling environment for agricultural investment, decision makers need to access quality data that can assist them in decision-making and planning. Ghana’s Government has prioritized the attainment of food security through self-sufficiency for many years. However, Ghana’s agricultural population is aging, and despite high youth unemployment, the sector has failed to attract younger people. At the same time, changes in the global trade environment are widening the gap between the needs of private agribusinesses and existing labour supplies. This gap represents an opportunity for unemployed youth to enter the agricultural sector by utilizing new approaches and market opportunities to earn decent incomes.