General Secretary for the Agricultural Workers Union, Mr. Edward Kareweh is sceptical about claims made by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto that his Ministry created 750,000 jobs under the planting for Food and Jobs programme last year.

Mr Kareweh wonders where the Minister got the figure challenging him to provide further details on what is being bandied around.

“The statistical service should bring out the figures to show if indeed the claims made by the Minister are true or otherwise. You remember the last presidential encounter, the President asked to be given three months to be able to give out figures of how many jobs had been created since he assumed office”, he said.

The Minister was reported to have told the Daily Graphic that 202,000 farmers participated in the programme adding that 1,070 graduates of agriculture colleges and 2,160 national service personnel were recruited to support the farmer registration exercise and the work of extension officers.

“The Planting for Food and Jobs has generated substantial demand for labour in the rural areas and helped in improving production,” the minister said.

Job creation was a major promise of the government and it is committed to leveraging the opportunities it is creating in the agriculture sector to employ many of the youth.

“This is just the first year, so you can imagine what is in store for the nation this year when an estimated 500,000 farmers will be engaged in the programme,” the minister added.

But Mr Kareweh is at a loss as to how these jobs could have been created without the statistical service in the know.