MiDA to manage GhanaCares Obaatanpa Project
The Government has selected the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to implement and coordinate the activities of the novelty agricultural-focused Economic Enclaves Project (EEP) of the GhanaCares Obaatanpa Project across the country.
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The decision is in recognition of MIDA’s track record in effective programme management of the two Millennium Challenge Compacts and its capacity to handle related accountabilities.
MiDA is expected to adopt and follow the same systematic approaches to project management that characterised the implementation of the two compact projects it executed.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced this when he swore in the board members of the new MiDA for Ghana Cares Obaatanpa Project at the Jubilee House in Accra last Wednesday.
“It is important that I emphasise that this new approach to state-sponsored large-scale commercial farming is not fashioned after the erstwhile government-owned state farms concept,” he insisted.
Already, some chiefs and land owners across the country have offered large tracts of land for the project, and the President commended them for buying into the vision.
State Farms
He announced that a pilot rice project on a 10,000-acre land near Asutsuare was at an advanced stage, and that the produce from the enclave would be on the market in 2024.
Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu is the board chairperson, with Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin as the Chief Executive.
MiDA implemented two Millennium Challenge Compacts; the first from February 2007 to February 2012, and the second one from September 2016 to June 2022.
President Akufo-Addo said while the quantum of the budget earmarked for the EEP and the related funding arrangements was different from those of the two compacts, it was expected that all the implementing entities would work speedily and harmoniously to realise the outputs expected from the novelty agricultural-focused Economic Enclaves to be set up across the country.
He explained that under the EEP, the government was facilitating suitable and well-prepared land fitted with farm roads, power supply, irrigation, farming equipment and the much-needed infrastructure, trainee farmers’ accommodation, grain process input, storage and warehousing.
He charged the MiDA board to ensure the necessary de-risking and facilitative arrangements initiated by the government which involved all the implementing entities and project partners to be sustained in order to support the realisation of the government's vision of enhancing self-sufficiency in the production of rice, poultry and tomatoes, among others.
President Akufo-Addo added that it was to also secure the curtailment of import levels and ensuring substantial youth participation in food farming and agro-processing value chains.
48 Engineer Regiment
He announced that the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces was involved and would take charge of the land preparation and development, while Ghana Irrigation Development Authority and the land surveys were involved in the provision of irrigation infrastructure.
President Akufo-Addo said it was expected that the participation of private sector investors in the activities would ensure sustainability and encourage the youth to join in and play meaningful roles in commercial farming.
He added that it would culminate in a group of young farmers with the capacity to undertake modern farming on a sustainable basis.
The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme and the National Service Secretariat would facilitate the recruitment of the youth to participate in the project.
Board
The board comprises five Ministers of State from the Ministries of Finance, Food and Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Local Government, Decentralisation and Development and Gender Children and Social Protection.
It also includes representatives of the Association of Ghana Industries, the National Service Scheme and the Private Enterprises Foundation.
The board chairperson of the new MIDA, who held the same position in the previous board, said their appointment was an indication that the President found their work satisfactory, and assured that they would work assiduously to realise the vision.
“This innovative project that seeks to fill the gaps in Ghana’s staple food production and minimise food importation is a concrete demonstration of your famous statement during the COVID that you know how to bring the economy back to life,” she added.
She was confident that the project would help in reviving the Ghanaian economy.