Planting for food and jobs in post-COVID era: identifying the missing gaps for sustainable food production – a review

Abstract

Agriculture is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy and serve as a source of employment, income generation and poverty reduction for many people in the agricultural value chain. Agriculture over the years has contributed significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) until recently when the performance of the sector and the contribution to GDP began to dwindled. With the current economic challenges after COVID-19, high fuel costs and ravaging food prices, every effort should be put in place to increase food production to reduce food importation which put pressure on the local currency and drives food prices high. The introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) policy was to boost agricultural productivity, eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, achieve food sufficiency and reduce unemployment. The policy is also to helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 1- No Poverty and Goal 2 - Zero hunger especially in this post-COVID era. This paper was carried out by reviewing policy documents, articles and interacting with certain stakeholders on the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative. The PFJ policy hinges on five pillars namely: improved seeds, fertilizer supply, dedicated extension services; market, and e-agriculture. However, the policy is flawed with many challenges. The review showed that the policy lacks clear direction as regards its implementation. Key implementation features such as provision of irrigation facilities, introduction of mechanization services, dedicated market for farmers’ produce and land tenure systems among others were major issues. It was also observed that there were poor monitoring and evaluation, corrupt practices such as the diversion of improved seeds and fertilizers, high cost of farm inputs and lack of sustainability plan as in the case of previous interventions. This article will, therefore, help policymakers and the government to review and focus on key areas of the policy that will improve food production, create jobs, ensure food security and transform the general economy.