Don’t sell farmlands to build houses …Nana Addo tells House of Chiefs

PRESIDENT NANA Akufo-Addo has appealed to chiefs in the country to refrain from selling arable lands meant for farming for private developers to construct houses on them.

According to him, there are reports that some farmlands were now being given to real estate developers to construct houses on them, a situation which is not encouraging.

The president reminded the respected traditional leaders and all other stakeholders that food was important for the citizenry to survive and contribute to national transformation.

In this regard, President Akufo-Addo appealed to the chiefs not to release lands that are meant for farming activities for different purposes as it could adversely affect the country.

He made the remarks when he stormed the National House of Chiefs at Manhyia in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital on Saturday evening.

President Akufo-Addo also appealed to the chiefs to freely provide lands for the Phase II of the NPP government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, which has been rolled out.

“Most of the agricultural lands are under the care of our chiefs, so I am appealing to them to release farm lands for large scale commercial farming to support the PFJ Phase II”, he appealed.

The president was of the opinion that the PFJ policy by his administration has the capacity of ensuring food production and security as well as attracting income for the country through food export.

In line with this, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the entire citizenry should rally behind his NPP government so that the Phase II of the PFJ would become highly successful.

He also commended chiefs in the country for their unflinching support for his administration so far, and urged them to continue to back his administration to deliver more for the country.