The Minister for Finance, Dr. Casiel Ato Forson has reiterated the government’s position to support the agricultural sector in Ghana for transformation and job creation.
Delivering his speech on the country’s budget statement and economic policy at Parliament House in Accra on Tuesday, 11 March, 2025, the finance minister indicated that, “ the government has allocated an amount of 1.5 billion Ghana cedis for the agricultural for economic transformational programmes, Feed Ghana, Vegetable Development Project and Nkoko Nketenkete as key components.”
The Poultry Farm to Table initiative, otherwise referred to as ‘Nkoko nketenkete’ programme by the government is an initiative aimed to boost domestic poultry production and processing to directly address the country’s 95 per cent reliance on imported poultry products.
Whereas the government’s ‘nkoko nketenkete’ initiative has faced some criticism, the minority leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin during the vetting of the current Agric Minister, Eric Opoku, expressed his belief in the government’s proposed poultry programme.
Mr Markin described it as a potential solution to the country’s high youth unemployment rate, noting that, as an entrepreneur, he recognises the pressure the youth unemployment crisis places on the political class and believes the programme could offer a viable solution.
The 1.5 billion cedis allocated to execute agricultural interventions by the government, whilst providing jobs for the youth, according to the finance minister, is one of the main areas of focus , to enhance food production, reduce food inflation, minimise food imports and boost local food production.
Reporting by Stephen Freeman, Accra.
