The District Director of Agriculture for Daffiama Bussie Issa, Mr Samuel Oteng Poku, has raised alarms regarding the hurdles that farmers face in registering for and accessing inputs through the Ghana Agriculture and Agribusiness Platform (GhAAP) as part of the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative.
He revealed that many farmers in the district have been unable to benefit from the government’s input grant due to the difficulties in navigating the platform required for registration.
Mr. Poku emphasized that the challenges have created barriers preventing farmers from accessing essential resources for their agricultural activities.
"We also had initial challenges in the registration of farmers onto the GhAAP. So we have been receiving a lot of challenges and bashing from communities that do not get the input grant support."
"The government has acquired enough tablets for all our AEAs so that they can keep on registering and the registration is still ongoing," Mr Poku added.
GhAAP is an integrated and interoperable web-based platform that provides agribusiness value chain actors with information, insights, inputs, agronomic practices, markets, and other resources to enhance coordination, transparency, interaction, tracking, monitoring, and reporting in real time.
Speaking during the 40th Farmer's Day Celebration in Issa, Mr Poku encouraged stakeholders to address the challenges promptly to ensure that farmers can take full advantage of the government's support programs.
Some farmers who spoke to Info Radio have echoed these concerns, expressing frustration over the complicated registration process and the lack of assistance available to help them.
Meanwhile, the District Chief Executive for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa, Mr Imoro Nadi Sanda, lauded the PFJ Phase 2 program and highlighted its benefits for local farmers.
"The government has implemented several initiatives to support our farmers...Planting for Food and Jobs, which aims to increase crop yield, improve agricultural productivity, enhance the quality of our produce and also create jobs."
Mr Timothy Ngnebanbu was crowned the District's Best Farmer. He took home a motor tricycle and other farm inputs.
Comments