The District Chief Executive for Wa East, Mr Moses Jotie, has entreated retired workers to consider taking full advantage of government’s flagship poverty alleviation initiatives into farming or animal rearing to supplement their incomes.

He said the government was committed to implementing policies and programmes geared towards the comfort and well-being of pensioners who have served the country and the district all their lives.

Speaking at the 59th commemoration of Senior Citizens Day at Funsi in the Wa East District, Mr Jotie appealed to the District Director of Agriculture to give preferential services to senior citizens willing to go into any farming project.

“The Senior Citizens should be served first of these inputs or improved seeds”, he said.

The Senior Citizens Day is a day set aside to celebrate the lives of citizens who have worked hard in the service of the nation and communities but have left public service due to the attainment of the compulsory retirement age

“I know you are retired but not tired, so engaging yourselves into planting for food and jobs as well as the newly launched rearing for food and jobs in earning incomes will create a smooth ground for a better living,” Mr Jotie said.

Beginning this farming season, he stated, the district has started receiving its consignments of fertilizers and improved seeds under the government Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

He said government has also recruited and posted extension and production officers to the districts to render enhanced extension services for better output.

Mr Jotie indicated that due to old age and several years of hard work, most retirees have become vulnerable and week, hence the need to appreciate their contribution and sacrifice to the nation’s development agenda.

Even though the Senior Citizens are no longer in active public service, he appealed to them to continue serving the district and mother Ghana through experience sharing.

Mr Rashid Dalo, a Ghana Education Service pensioner, applauded the government for introducing the ‘Rearing for Food and Jobs’ programme and expressed the hope it would help support their livelihoods.

“We do not have enough energy to farm again but for rearing, we can also involve earning a living,” he added.