Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister, Yaw Frimpong Addo, has provided reasons behind the discontinuation of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Market initiative.According to the Deputy Minister, the initiative was only a temporary measure introduced to check food price hikes observed last year.He, therefore, shot down claims indicating that the initiative is currently non-existent due to lack of funds from the government.

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“It was a stop-gap measure that we took at that time. We were getting close to Christmas and we all know what happened to Ghana between October and November 2022… food prices were hugely affected because of transportation and all that.“So, the cost of transportation we needed to do something about it. We saw a lot of this food staff we went round the country… the price there were so cheap but in urban areas the prices were crazy.

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“So, we decided to do something about it. Then we decided to quickly organise this one which we called the PFJ markets… it was for a short period and a purpose,” he said.Yaw Frimpong Addo is of the view that the PFJ Markets programme has served its purpose.

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The initiative under the tutelage of former Agric Minister, Dr Afriyie Akoto, began on Friday, November 11, with bunches of plantain but was later expanded, bringing in foodstuffs such as cabbage, yams, carrot, pepper, spring onions and cucumbers.

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