Five thousand farmers in Agona East are to benefit from the Planting for Food and Jobs programme this year.

The programme was instituted by the Government last year to reduce poverty, create jobs and increase food supply.

Mr Dennis Armah-Frempong, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Agona East, made this known in an address at the first ordinary session of the Agona East Assembly held at Nsaba in the Central Region.

He said the Department of Food and Agriculture in the District had already received inputs to be sold to farmers at subsidised prices.

Mr Armah-Frempong said the Planting for Food and Jobs was one of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s flagship programmes being implemented to bring innovative and modernise agriculture methods to farmers to improve production.

He said the programme had come to stay and urged the Assembly members to inform farmers in their various electoral areas about the ongoing registration exercise by extension officers of the Department.

He said it was prudent for the farmers to take advantage of the enormous benefits associated with the programme to enhance their living standards.

Mr Armah-Frempong stated that last year a substantial number of farmers in the District registered with the programme, a laudable social intervention instituted by the President.

On the School Feeding Programme, he said, 17 schools benefitted last year and the number had increased to 28 as part of efforts to cover more schools to increase children’s enrolment in Agona East.

The DCE said a team of officers from the headquarters of the Programme recently visited the District as part of the nationwide monitoring to assess the level of implementation as well as the challenges.

He said the assessment report had revealed the true picture of the problems and that the basic structures would be provided to help improve upon it.

He disclosed that this year 25 youths in the District had been engaged under the Community Protection Assistant Module of the National Youth Employment Authority.

The Youth in Sports Module has been rolled out in the District and there is online registration, the DCE said, and called on the Assembly to inform interested youth to take advantage of it.

On Sanitation, Mr Armah-Frempong said 22 communities had been selected to benefit from the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) designed to assist households to have their own toilet facilities.

This would help to eliminate open defecation in the villages and towns, he said.

Nana Kwao Ponsi, the Adontenhene of Agona Asafo and Presiding Member of the Agona East Assembly, expressed concern about absenteeism of some members and urged them to change that attitude.

“Members should avoid staying away without tangible reasons,”

He said, and called on them to assist to rake in more revenue to undertake development projects.