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The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has warned District and Municipal Directors that he will not hesitate to sanction their transfers if some of them continue to politicize the Government's flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

The Minister says the policy, which is a social intervention policy for Ghanaian gallant farmers, is purely non-partisan, warning that anyone who attempts to politicize it will be severely dealt with.

He said the agricultural sector must not be politicized, stressing that the consequences of such action will result in the total collapse of the country's socio-economic environment.

"The Government of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is pumping sums of money into this programme just to support our farmers and improve their economic condition, and in so doing we want to completely transform the country's economy. Therefore, anyone who does not share this laudable objective will not be entertained" an obviously angry Agric Minister cautioned.

Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto's warning followed reports that some Municipal and District Directors in the Volta Region were deliberately refusing to register farmers on to the PFJ programme, a situation which has led to the relatively low patronage of the programme in the region.

"I have heard a lot about how some of you are unwilling to register and distribute inputs to farmers. I hear some of you intentionally keep these inputs and refuse to give them out. This is very bad and I am warning that if this trend continues, I will have no option than to sanction your tranfers" He warned.

The Minister, who was addressing Staff of the Ministry in the Volta Ho, said he did not want to believe the attitude of the district directors were motivated by their political affiliation or loyalty, stressing that they will be doing greater disservice to their own people if they continue like that.

"We all know larger percentage of people in this region rely on farming as their major source of economic livelihood so why would you want to deny them something that will help improve their economic fortunes, I just can't believe this" Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto retorted.

The Minister therefore appealed to the people of the region to embrace government's numerous policies and programmes geard towards enhancing their socio-economic livelihoods.