The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) on Thursday organised a day's workshop on block farming in Sekondi, for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives and agriculture personnel in the Western Region.
Speaking at the workshop, Mr David Yaro, Chief Director of the Regional Co-ordinating Council, said the project would ensure food security and facilitate government's effort to reduce poverty.
He said the income of farmers would also improve when food security was achieved and in turn reduce poverty in the rural areas.
Mr Yaro asked the chief executives to sensitise the youth to take to agriculture as a means of securing a living.
The assemblies should also rehabilitate old warehouses or construct new ones in anticipation of bumper harvest.
Mr Yaro announced that Regional Block Farming Management Committee and District Management teams would be formed to identify crops that would be cultivated in the region and secure lands for the project, among other functions.
Dr (Mrs) Mary Opoku-Asiamah, Regional Director of Agriculture, said MOFA had targeted 150,000 hectares of block farms for cultivation during the 2010 cropping season.
She said the priority crops selected included maize, grain and seed, rice grain and seed, soybean, sorghum, tomato and onion.
She said the Political Leaders in Agriculture Programme, which gave birth to the Block Farming concept stressed the active participation of the leaders.
Dr Opoku-Asiamah said the workshop was aimed at enlightening all stakeholders in the region and also facilitate Regional participation in the programme.
She said benefits of the programme included increased employment for the youth, crop production, wealth creation and reduced vulnerability of the people, enhance interest in agriculture as well as food security.
Dr Opoku-Asaiamah said the region had a large expanse of undeveloped inland valleys that could be put under cultivation of grain and seed rice to meet the set target of 1,500 hectares for the region and improve the lot of the people.