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Mr Kwame Asafu-Adjei delivering his address at the conference in Accra
Mr Kwame Asafu-Adjei delivering his address at the conference in Accra

Farmers in Northern, Volta regions benefit from food security project

Fifty thousand farmers in the Northern and Volta regions have benefited from a $6.5-million food security project that will guarantee them increased and sustainable food production in their respective districts.

The five-year initiative, known as Food security through co-operatives in northern Ghana (FOSTERING), is funded by the Canadian government to increase food production through improved agronomic practices and also ensure better marketing strategies for food produced in the districts.

The farmers will also benefit from improved access to finance and expanded off-season economic activities.

The beneficiary districts are East Gonja, Kpandai, Nanumba South, Nanumba North, Tatale-Sangule and Chereponi in the Northern Region and Krachi-Nchumuru in the Volta Region.

Occasion

The Country Manager of the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), Mr Frewengel W. Michael, disclosed this at a dialogue held in Accra yesterday to discuss agricultural financing involving farmers from the Northern Region.

The meeting also discussed strategies that can ensure the sustainability of agriculture in the country.

Participants included members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, officials from the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), women’s groups and civil society organisations.

The dialogue also compiled and incorporated the proposed recommendations into MoFA’s 2018-2021 medium-term plan for increased funding for the agricultural sector.

Significance

Opening the dialogue, Mr Michael said another key component of the project was to draw the attention of duty bearers to the performance of the agricultural sector at the community level.

Against that backdrop, he stated that the CCA, through SEND-Ghana, commissioned a study into food security in the target districts in July 2015, highlighting the need for the government to focus on the agricultural sector and provide adequate budgetary allocations for the development of the sector.

Among the key findings of the study, according to him, were inadequate and late release of funds, inadequate logistics and human resource constraints and the fact that women represented only 28 per cent of the beneficiaries of agricultural input and related services.

In view of those challenges, Mr Michael explained that the CCA and SEND-Ghana saw the need to engage stakeholders at the dialogue to raise key policy issues concerning food security in the eastern corridor in particular.

It was also to generate an appropriate feedback and response to influence policy, as well as create a platform to strengthen partnerships with policy makers.

The event was organised by the Northern Ghana Governance Activity (NGGA), with support from SEND-Ghana and the CCA.

The NGGA is a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Objectives

Earlier, the Chief of Party at the NGGA, Mr Michael Alandu, said the project aimed to increase the capacity of Ghana’s decentralised agricultural structures at the district and the regional levels.

The goal of the NGGA, he posited, was to ensure strengthened responsive governance for improved development in the agricultural sector.

The Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Food and Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Mr Kwame Asafu-Adjei, asked farmers to take advantage of the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

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