Africa-Press – Ghana. President John Dramani Mahama has hailed Mr Eric Opoku, Food and Agriculture Minister as one of the best Ministers of Agriculture in the history of Ghana.
He made the commendation during the launch of a new vegetable development project under the national agricultural strategy atukuom in the Asunafo South District and the groundbreaking ceremony for a chicken and meat processing centre at Bechem in the Ahafo region.
Speaking at the event, President Mahama underscored the fresh vegetable drive as a key step toward improving food security, reducing import dependence, and empowering small holder and subsistence farmers across the country.
Mr Eric Opoku, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, has been steering major of intervention by launching the Feed Ghana Programme, in April this year designed to transform the agricultural sector, boost domestic food production, stabilise food prices, create jobs and supply raw materials for agro-industries.
Under the programme, the Ministry rolled out the YƐREDUA Vegetable Development Project, promoting vegetable cultivation through greenhouse farming, irrigation supported open field cultivations, support for the urban, peri urban and rural farmers. Nationwide vegetable nurseries are being established to give families easy access to quality seedlings, encouraging home gardening a household level food production.
In the poultry subsector, Mr. Opoku has spearheaded a broad revitalization effort including the Nkoko Nketenkete Programme , a backyard poultry initiative targeting women and youth and a “Farm toTable” framework supporting large and medium scale poultry farmers.
The Ministry has distributed birds to thousands of households and is scaling up domestic poultry production to reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported poultry products.
As part of the revitalisation, a state-of-the-art soya processing plant is being set up in the North to provide a reliable market for soybean farmers and feed into poultry feed value chains.
The Feed Ghana programme has also seen expanded irrigation infrastructure, rehabilitation of dams and support for institutional farming covering schools, security agencies, religious institutions, and youth to boost production of staples, vegetables and livestock while curbing postharvest losses.
At the Bechem groundbreaking, President Mahama broke ground for the construction of a chicken and meat processing centre, championed by Minister Opoku as a cornerstone of Ghana’s poultry valuechain development and local meat processing.
The public noted that the new vegetable push and renewed investment in poultry and agro processing position Ghana for long term food self sufficiency and economic transformation, recasting agriculture from subsistence level production to a diversified, agro-industrial sector with emphasis on food security, import substitution, rural livelihoods, and value chain development.
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