Damongo, (N/R), June 13, GNA - A total of 47,000 youths have so far been employed under the Youth in Agric Block Farming Programme (YIABFP) initiated by government in 2009.

The project has harvested 3,400 metric tons of combined selected cro ps from 11,500 hectares of cultivated land.

It begun last farming season with 89 districts selected from six regions, namely the Northern, Upper East and West regions, Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti and Central Regions, which cultivated crops such as maize, rice a nd soyabean at the cost of GH¢10 million.

Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) disclosed t his when he launched the YIABFP for the 2010 farming season at Damongo in the

West Gonja District on Saturday.

He said MOFA was now purchasing the harvested paddy rice through th e National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) at guaranteed minimum price, which has assured farmers of fair prices and stable incomes. The Nasia Rice Mill, he said, had been rehabilitated to parboil and

mill all the northern rice due to its peculiarity. Mr Ahwoi said the Youth in Agric Programme (YIAP) was a four pronge d programme anchored on the pillars of block farm for crops, livestock and poultry, aquaculture for fisheries and Agribusiness.

He said with effect from this farming season all the ten regions in

the country would participate in the components of the programme but explained that locations that had comparative advantage in the production of certain crops would be encouraged to concentrate and specialize in those fields.

He said MOFA had this year set itself the target of putting 60,000 hectares of land under cultivation and Northern Ghana alone had been allocated 30,500 hectares, because the crops to be produced under the prgramme were most suitable for the savanna ecological zone and also beca use the area had access to large tracts of land for mechanized cereal farming .. Mr Ahwoi observed that the decline in inflation since the beginning of the year to 10.68 per cent in May could partly be attributed to the availability of stocks that had come from farmers of the YIAP.

He said the stocks had held back rising prices of food stuffs during

the season adding that: "Indeed the 5.81 per cent food inflation componen t announced in April 2010 is the lowest in the last five years. It was 19. 42 per cent in January 2008 and we all know that the food basket plays a ver y important role in the calculation of inflationary rates of a country". The Agriculture Minister said, in view of the encouraging signs show n by the youth for the YIAP, plans were far advanced by government to impor t large quantities of farm machinery and equipments such as tractors, combi ned harvesters, planters and processing plants to further boost farming activities. Mr Moses Bukari Magengba, Northern Regional Minister in a speech rea d for him said the implementation of the YIAP had had a positive impact on the food balance sheet of the region as far as major staples in the region we re concerned.

He noted that the Region took part in the programme in 2009 and it w as piloted in 10 out of the 20 districts and said 3,875 hectares of land was

put under rice production whilst 743 and 96.8 hectares were put under mai ze and soyabean production respectively.

He said as a result maize production increased from 131,859 metric t ons in 2008 to 167,842 metric tons in 2009, representing a percentage increas e of 27 percent. Rice production grew from 105,278 metric tons in 2008 to 142,219 metric tons in 2009 representing an increase of 35 per cent whils t soyabean production rose from 68,243 metric tons in 2008 to 84,118 metric

tons in 2009 representing a percentage increase of 23 per cent. Mr Magengba said not only did the programme contributed to food security in the Region but also created 4,523 direct jobs out of which 2, 561 were men while 188 were women. Mr Agyabeng Antwi-Adjei, Acting Chief Executive of the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) in an address read for him said th e Fund had from June 2002 to June 2009 provided an amount of GH¢89,882,19 1 by way of loans to 200 export companies and enterprises. He said an amount o f GH¢36,055,793 in grant was also provided to 326 farmer groups and institutions providing various services to the export sector of the econo my. He said foreign exchange earnings from Non-Traditional Export had grown from 459.9 million US dollars in 2001 to 1,340,000 US dollars in 20 08 adding that it was expected that as more funded EDIF projects came on stream, export earnings would increase significantly. He announced that EDIF was to undertake a mongo project in the thre e Northern regions, the Brong-Ahafo Region and parts of the Volta Region. He said 25 districts had been selected and the West Gonja District was a beneficiary with 200 acres of mango plantation located at Gbroto. Mr Antwi-Adjei said EDIF would support the cultivation of 20,000 ac res of mango in 34 communities in the northern sector over a five year period .. 13 June 10