National Service Scheme to plant 5000 acres of land next planting season

Mr Mustapha Ussif, the Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), said the Scheme intends to cultivate 5,000 acres of farmland at its Ejura farms in the Ashanti Region.

This, he said, was to boost production to reduce the import of food by the country and create jobs for the people of Ejura and other surrounding communities.

Mr Ussif said this when he paid a working visit to the Ejura Farm at the weekend, where he expressed excitement at the progress made.

“The Scheme had already worked on over 400 acres, which is a success compared to previous years,” he said.

Mr Ussif said the Scheme was strategically supporting government’s flagship programme; “Planting for Food and Jobs” and had also collaborated with the National Buffer Stock to support the Free Senior High School”.

He said the NSS would continue to adopt best farming practices and introduce technologies such as drone sprayer to help improve yield in subsequent years.

He said, so far, yields from the farms had been packaged in branded NSS 50kg sacks and stored at the Government warehouse on the farm.

“Under the current management of NSS, the farms have been revamped entirely to recapture its lost glory,” he said.

The Executive Director said apart from the production of maize in larger quantities, the Scheme had also raised about 22,000 birds in addition to over 2000 sheep and 100 goats at its Nungua and Papao farms in Accra.

That achievement, he said, had given him the encouragement to do more.

Meanwhile, the NSS is constructing a fence wall for the Ejura Government Hospital and would soon construct a mechanised borehole for the facility as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

Among those who visited the farm were Mr Kwaku Ohene Djan, the Deputy Executive Director of Operations, Mr Opoku Mensah, the Ashanti Regional NSS Director, and Mr David Prah, the Director of Public Relations.

Source: GNA