Some 5,000 farmers within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan area have received more than 5,000 coconut seedlings since the inception of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

The farmers have also received maize, vegetable seeds and other agricultural resources to aid in effective farm management practices to increase yields.

Mr Daniel Asimenu, the Metropolitan Director of Agriculture, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, another set of farmers had been registered for rubber stumps in the 2023 agricultural season.

He said a component of the programme, which promoted rural agriculture and wealth creation, had seen many extension workers deployed to assist farmers with the requisite knowledge to make informed decisions.

Mr Asimenu has, therefore, encouraged the farmers to continue with good agricultural practices that would ensure bountiful harvest in the next four years.

The Director for Agriculture, however complained about how urbanization had “eaten” a chunk of arable lands within the metropolis, adding “so now we are turning attention to home gardens, and we encourage every family to consider this as key in controlling the looming food scarcity issue.”

He said, “farmers have also been educated to add home gardening as a component to the regular farming methods. We have provided citrus, guava, mango among other citrus to our farmers”.

The Metro Agric Director mentioned how the Assembly through the European Union had mounted demonstration gardens to teach farmers on aquaculture, greenhouse farming, vegetable cultivation and poultry, among others.

“We are also working hard on market linkages to ensure that our farmers get value for their hard Labour”, the Agric Director added.

He spoke about a common database to ensure interconnectivity with all players in the agricultural value chain, adding, “I will at this time beg my farmers to provide the right information about their businesses for the right assistance.”

Mr. Asimenu mentioned the collaboration with the Agric Directorate and the Meteorological Department for information on when the rains would set in to enable farmers to start this year’s planting season.