The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, will, on Saturday, 13 November 2021, join the chiefs and people of Asante Akyem Agogo to observe the second edition of the Agogo Golden Plantain Festival.
The event, which is a collaboration between the Agogo Traditional Council and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is aimed at highlighting the contributions of plantain and other non-formal agricultural exports to the country’s economy.
Ghana has since the inception of its agricultural flagship initiative Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) in 2017 seen a tremendous increase in the export capacities of some major food crops such as plantain, banana, yam amongst others, to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin.
Agogo and its environs are noted for the production of the large chunk of these major staple foods which do not only serve as a livelihood for thousands of people within the Agogo enclave but also contribute to the country’s foreign export revenue.
Hundreds of truckloads of plantain, yam and cassava leave the shores of Ghana every week, earning the country several millions of cedis.
The idea of the Agogo Golden Plantain Festival was, therefore, mooted to bring to the fore both the economic and the nutritional importance of the food crop to the country.
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto will also use the opportunity to highlight some of the policies and initiatives being implemented by the Government and the Ministry to improve the marketing value of plantain and other food crops in the country.
