The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) through the Feed Ghana Programme has thrown its support behind the Pantang Hospital Farm Project, donating farm inputs and pledging sustained technical assistance to expand the hospital’s agricultural activities.
The Deputy Coordinator says the Pantang hospital farm project initiative will ensure food security, reduce hospital feeding costs.
The delegation from Feed Ghana, led by the Deputy National Coordinator in charge of Institutional Farming, Hon. Gordon Nana Asubonteng Frimpong, visited the hospital to inspect its maize and vegetable farms and to encourage the management’s initiative to venture into farming.
“Hon. Gordon Nana Asubonteng Frimpong is the Deputy National Coordinator for the Feed Ghana Programme, specifically in charge of Institutional Farming under MoFA. Feed Ghana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is a flagship program of this government. Our mission is very simple, to ensure food security, to feed the industry, to create sustainable jobs,” he stated.
“God being so good, Pantang Hospital has been existing for quite a long time and we know that, apart from their core function, they also farm. The bulk of what they make goes into feeding. So, we have a good director, a good initiator, a friend who has found it necessary to also go into farming,” he said.
“So, we think that, why not come here and learn his aspects to encourage him to do what he wants to do. We have gone to their field, we have seen what they are doing over there – their maize farm, very nice farm. They are also trying some vegetables. So, we of Feed Ghana are very much happy. We want to encourage them,” he added.
“That is the reason why we came here. We have also donated some bags of inputs to help them do what they are doing very well. So, we are here to ensure that they get the support and at the same time to encourage them. We have formed an arrangement, so we are going to be here very often to see what they are doing and we believe that next year they should even do better,” he said.
“On the part of Pantang Hospital, we received a delegation from Feed Ghana today, led by Honorable Asubonteng, the Deputy Coordinator in charge of Institutional Farming. And we are so grateful that they came to inspect what we are doing here, the Pantang Hospital Farm Project. They’ve seen for themselves what we are doing. It’s not just something that we talk about, but we are doing it,” Dr. Maalug said.
“We are also grateful to Honorable Asubonteng’s team. They’ve donated 200 bags of fertilizer to support our work here, in terms of the Pantang Hospital Farm Project. They’ve also promised us that they will support our poultry farming and other activities that we are doing,” he stated.
Dr. Maalug appealed for more support, noting that land clearing and mechanization remain major cost challenges for the hospital.
“Clearing of the land costs a lot. We need support from that area. It costs so much that the hospital cannot bear that cost. Because the essence of this farm is for us to be able to produce what we feed and to lessen our dependence on our meagre revenue,” he explained.
“We call on other agencies, public and private, to come and support the Pantang Hospital Farm Project. Because this is in line with SDG 2, whereby we want to end hunger by 2030, and to provide nutritious food to our patients. So we need whatever support we can get – farm machinery, planters, tractors, seedlings,” he appealed.
By Sampson Kumah Ifeetwube Elvis
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