Ghana’s agric sector receiving $63m investment from USAID
Ghana is currently benefiting from four key agricultural initiatives funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a fact sheet obtained by ghanabusinessnews.com October 10,2011 has shown.
The four projects funded by USAID are the Agricultural Development Value Chain Enhancement Programme (ADVANCE); Ghana Strategic Support Programme (GSSP); Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance (ICFG); as well as the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) which is partly funded by the agency.
The sheet, which gives USAID’s agricultural activity brief on Ghana, indicates the funding cost of these four projects is $63 million.
On the ADVANCE, the sheet says it is a $32 million four-year programme designed to improve the competitiveness of key agricultural commodity value chains in domestic and regional markets, with a significant focus on the three northern regions. It started in 2009 and ends in 2013.
The GSSP is a $17 million programme focused on agricultural research and policy platforms that will ultimately modernize the agriculture sector, particularly staple crops, through 2013, according to USAID.
The four-year ICFG initiative, the agency noted is a $10 million programme designed to assist Ghana to sustainably manage its coastal and marine ecosystems and improve the livelihoods and food security of coastal communities through 2013.
The USAID is also a part financier of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC).
“Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC), a challenge fund with pooled funding from Danida and the European Union, is receiving $4 million from USAID to work on improving the business environment in Ghana to facilitate private sector growth, including in the agricultural sector, through 2014,” it said.
Aside all these four agric projects, the sheet notes that the US Peace Corps volunteers will “support agricultural production of maize, rice, and soybean, improve farmer business and marketing skills, ensure a greater role for women, build bankable credit-worthy programmes, test alternative on-farm or processing energy options, and extend new technologies in the three northern regions of Ghana through 2013.”
The agency is also receiving support from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the 3-year Monitoring, Evaluation, and Technical Support Services (METSS) programme to design and have an oversight of new programmes under the Feed the Future (FtF) programme, it noted. METSS also provides direct technical support to the implementation of Ghana’s Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP), and provides monitoring and evaluation services for both FtF and METASIP, it adds. The programme ends in 2013.
By Ekow Quandzie