Production of various food crops by farmers in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region has increased following the introduction of government's flagship programme – Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
Beneficiary farmers of the programme have therefore commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for supporting them in diverse ways under the PFJ.
A total of 1,336 farmers have so far benefitted from the programme in 2018 as against 1,190 farmers in 2017.
Under the programme, two million cocoa seedlings, 50,000 coconut seedlings and 100,000 oil palm seedlings would be distributed to farmers in 2019 at no cost to them.
The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Gilbert Kennedy Asmah, disclosed this at a town hall meeting organized by the municipality in collaboration with the Ministry of Information at Dompim near Tarkwa.
It was on the theme: "Participatory Governance, a Key to Sustainable Development".
The programme created a common platform for the leadership at the local levels to interact with the people on the various economic and social intervention policies.
Town hall meetings are some of the social accountability programmes that bring decision-making to the doorsteps of the citizens. It also affords the authorities the opportunity to render account as duty bearers to the people.
The MCE told the people: "Our coming here today is to give account of what we did as an assembly in 2018 by way of improving the lives of our people".
He told the gathering that the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality existed to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. "This would be done through the provision of effective and efficient socio-economic services in collaboration with other stakeholders", he added.
He revealed that the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection had expanded the Ghana School programme by 30 per cent. "We can now boast of 27 basic public schools under the School Feeding Programme in the municipality", he indicated.
The MCE added that under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, about 30 communities were benefitting and that the government intended to add 30 more when approval was given.
He indicated that the assembly had constructed a police station with accommodation, a new market and an Astro Turf project which is ongoing at Dompim, near Tarkwa.
He mentioned that the assembly was collaborating with the Inter Ministerial Committee against illegal mining to organize workshops for some miners at University of Mines and Technology (UMaT).
He indicated that "the move will help to ensure proper mining when the ban on small-scale mining is lifted".