Ms Eugenia Bruce, Adaklu District Director of the Department of Agriculture has advised farmers in the district to register for the second phase of the government's Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative. She noted that this would enable them to enjoy the benefits under the initiative. Ms Bruce gave the advice during an engagement with farmers at Adaklu Kodzobi in the Adaklu district. She said under the initiative, the government would provide credit facility to all registered farmers in the form of ploughing of the land, provision of seeds, weedicides, pesticides, and fertilizer. She intimated that also under the programme, middlemen would be eliminated from the system, whilst the government through the Department of Agriculture would deal directly with the farmers. The Director noted that the beneficiaries of the credit facility would pay after harvesting their farm produce. She said when taken seriously, the PFJ would minimize youth unemployment in the country. She noted that farming had become a serious business and a lot of resources needed to be invested in it to yield good dividends. Ms Bruce appealed to landowners in the district to release land to interested people, especially the youth, who would like to take up farming as a vocation. She said sensitization and registration of farmers would be done in all communities in the district and called on the farmers for their active participation. Some farmers expressed dissatisfaction about the timing of the registration, saying that the major planting season was almost ending. However, Ms Bruce encouraged them to register, assuring that the PFJ initiative was a long-term programme. Source: Ghana News Agency