He said the government’s promise of ‘’one-district, one-factory’’ could become a reality if the youth in particular ventured into agriculture and cultivated the needed raw materials that would feed the factories.

According to him, the government, through the planting for food and job initiative, was ready to support the youth to go into farming to increase the cultivation of various raw materials to support the country’s industrialisation agenda.

Town hall meeting

Mr Armah Frimpong stated this at a town hall meeting at Agona Nsaba organised by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD).

The meeting, which was attended by assembly members, opinion leaders, youth groups and traditional leaders, provided an opportunity for government’s policies and programmes to be explained to the citizenry.

It also provided a platform for the governed to ask pertinent questions about the decisions and actions of government that negatively affected them for the necessary actions to be taken to resolve them.

He noted that the factories to be established across the country by the government could only survive through the support of the agricultural sector since they were interdependent, adding that ‘the success and failure of the one-district, one-factory programme is dependent on the agricultural sector.”

He added that the government did not want the new factories to be white elephants as happened to the Komenda Sugar Factory, and indicated that the government would not repeat past mistakes and would, therefore, ensure that raw materials were readily available before the factories were built.

He, therefore, admonished Ghanaians to support the government in the implementation of all its programmes as it would create numerous direct and indirect jobs for many, as well as boost the economy.

Free SHS

Touching on the Free SHS programme which is expected to start next week,  Mr Armah Frimpong disabused the minds of some of the participants who thought that there was a cut-off point in the selection of the students.

He indicated that there was no cut-off point and that students who were placed by the Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) would automatically benefit from the Free SHS programme.

According to the DCE, the government would expand the infrastructure in SHSs to address the challenges of the free SHS policy.

He, therefore, urged parents to take keen interest in the education of their children to ensure that they passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) so as to benefit from the programme in the coming years.

He disclosed that the government was considering constructing a district hospital at Nsaba since the area did not have one and assured the gathering that the necessary steps would be taken to ensure its realisation.

Ready market

The Agona East District Director of the Department of Agriculture, Mr Benjamin Nortey Wilson, said the planting for food and jobs programme had been successfully implemented in the district.

He stated that the government, through some off-takers, would buy the produce from the farmers after harvest to ensure that no agricultural produce was wasted.