FAO provides $500,000 grant for Greater Accra farmers affected by June 3 floods
MORE than 2,000 small-holder farmers who lost their livelihoods in the June 3 disaster in the Greater Accra Region are to benefit from a $500,000 technical co-operation grant from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
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The grant is aimed at restoring farming activities of smallholder farmers cultivating more than 2,800 hectares of vegetable, rice and maize in the region.
It is also to rehabilitate and restore the operation of the Weija Irrigation Scheme, with the repair of broken canals and reservoirs.
An agreement to that effect was signed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) last Friday.
The grant would also be used for other activities, including the procurement of 50 metric tonnes of maize seeds for 800 farmers.
About 200 farmers would benefit from 12 metric tonnes of rice seeds in addition to 202 farmers who would cultivate pepper, tomatoes, onion, okro and maize, while $45,000 has also been allocated for training of the farmers.
The project, which started this month is expected to end in July 2016.
Background
Earlier this year, the Accra metropolis was hit by floods which destroyed houses, farms and property running into billions of Ghana cedis.
The floods also affected the farms and the production operation of the Weija Irrigation Scheme. Some of the canals and reservoirs of the scheme were damaged by the floods, affecting farming activities.
FAO committed
Speaking at the ceremony, FAO’s Regional Representative for Africa, Mr Bukar Tijani, who signed on behalf of the institution, said the agreement was under the organisation’s technical co-operation programme.
He said the FAO had been supporting various initiatives in Ghana over the years and expressed the hope that the agreement would help restore the production capacity of flood victims to support their livelihood.
According to Mr Tijani, one of the objectives of FAO was to find ways of supporting the operations of farmers in the country, particularly challenges that affected their well-being.
“The recent floods affected the livelihood of many smallholder farmers in the Greater Accra and we realised the need to support the victims,” he said.
MoFA response
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Fifii Kwetey, who signed on behalf of the government, commended the FAO for the support to restore the livelihood of the victims.
He said government was committed to supporting the operations of smallholder farmers in the country.