The Upper West Regional Department of Agriculture has engaged some stakeholders in the region to sensitise them on the second phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ 2.0) programme. The engagement was to, among other things, expose the stakeholders to the PFJ 2.0 registration process and encourage them to in turn educate their communities. Speaking at the event in Wa, Mr Peter Maala, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, who represented the Upper West Regional Minister, expressed hope that the sensitisation would help the people to have deeper understanding of the programme and how they could benefit from it. 'We will continue to create awareness and get more people to be aware of the PFJ 2.0 and its benefits so that more farmers will be enrolled,' he indicated. He also expressed hope that the PFJ 2.0 would yield the expected outcome of increasing agricultural production and contributing to poverty reduction, especially in the Upper West Region. Mr Huudu Abu, the Upper West Regional Directo r of the Department of Agriculture, indicated that the PFJ 2.0 had come to build on the successes of the first phase of the programme. He said it was, therefore, necessary to educate the stakeholders on the PFJ 2.0 programme to enable them to appreciate the potential impact of the programme on farmers and its implementation modalities. Mr Abu said that would also enable the stakeholders to extend the education to the farmers to benefit from it. He announced that registration of farmers for the programme was currently ongoing and there was the need for the farmers to know the requirement for the registration. He encouraged institutions in the region, including government agencies and departments, to take advantage of the programme to help contribute to the goal of achieving food and nutrition security. In a presentation, Mr Stephen Yelsung, the Upper West Regional Agricultural Extension Officer, noted that the registration of farmers for the PFJ 2.0 was done through a digital platform called the 'Ghana Ag riculture and Agribusiness Platform'. He said it was necessary to enable the government to keep a database of farmers in the country. Mr Yelsung stated that Ghana Card formed an integral part of the registration process and encouraged all farmers to acquire it to benefit from the programme. He explained that a person was expected to have a minimum farm size of half an acre before he or she could be registered to benefit from the programme. Mr Frederick Vuozie, the Wa Municipal Director of Agriculture, expressed hope that considering the benefits that farmers in the region derived from the first phase of the programme, they would embrace the second phase to further improve their livelihoods. He explained that as a private-led programme, the challenges encountered with the first phase of the programme, including smuggling of the PFJ fertilizer, difficulty in accessing credit and mechanisation services and timely access to inputs, would be addressed. Kuoro Osman Diewia Nankpa III, the Paramount Chief of th e Pulima Traditional Area in the Sissala West District, raised concerns about the poor nature of roads in the Sissala area, which was affecting farmers in the area. Heads of Departments and Agencies, representatives of farmer groups and associations among others participated in the event. Source: Ghana News Agency