According to him, the programme had not only brought employment to the people, but had also increased annual growth of agriculture of the country.

He therefore, charged Ghanaians to support the programme to ensure better agriculture to enhance food security for the nation.

Mr Asafu-Agyei, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsuta-Kwaman Beposo, made the call at a National Dialogue on Budget Tracking and Analysis in the Agriculture Sector.

The Dialogue, organised by Send-Ghana was under the theme: "Promoting Smallholder Farmers (PSFAM) Inclusion in Agriculture Modernization".

The introduction of the Planning for Food and Jobs has led to the production of more plantain grains, vegetables and cereals.

Mr Asafu-Agyei disclosed that parliament had approved GHc400 million to help boost the country's agricultural sector whiles additional $10 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) had also been approved by the legislature.

He explained that the $10 million loan from the African Development Bank was to help reduce production risk in the agricultural sector.

He said part of the amount would be used to purchase agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seedlings among others for farmers to increase production and productivity.

Mr Asafu-Agyei also stated that the $10 million loan was to be managed by the Ghana Risk Sharing System for Agriculture (GRSAR) for farmer associations and various stakeholders in the agricultural sector to access the funds.

He called for greater involvement by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in the disbursement of the funds to the farmers rather than the Ministry of Finance.

He explained that since the Ministry and its implementing agencies were closer to the farmers, their direct involvement would help increase the recovery rate for the funds.

He advised farmer associations and non-governmental organizations to come together and outline the necessary measures and policies for commodity exchange to improve agriculture in the coming years.

Mr George Osei-Bimpeh, Country Director of Send-Ghana called Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to get together and address issues of accountability.

He said the quality of agriculture goes with investments, which must correspond to productivity.

He called on politicians to take their hand-off agriculture for technocrats to tackle so as to attain the expected results.

Mr Osei-Bimpeh noted that district assemblies had all the resources to support farmers but they do not prioritize it.

"Industrialization, underdevelopment of rural communities and youth unemployment, among others, won't be addressed if agriculture is not given the priority" he added.     

He said the objective of the project was not only to increase smallholder farmer's knowledge on the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign, but also to improve on agricultural infrastructure, expenditure and allocation.

"We cannot develop a country if we do work on our agriculture. We must get people to contribute, monitors and support farmers ourselves", he added.