Support Ghana’s commercial agric project to succeed – Minister
Dr Yakubu Alhassan, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, has appealed to traditional leaders in the Northern Region to unite and contribute in ensuring the region gained its past glory of being the nation’s breadbasket by supporting the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) to succeed.
He said the 145-million-dollar Government of Ghana Project, being funded by the World Bank and USAID, sought to develop infrastructure such as roads and irrigation schemes to improve agriculture productivity in the Accra Plains and the Northern Ecological Zone.
“Many similar projects have failed due to land-related litigations and so the chiefs are key stakeholders to the success of this project which has the potential of producing not only for one’s family but for the community, the country and for export”, he said.
Dr Alhassan made the appeal at a day’s forum in Tamale on Thursday to share and validate findings with stakeholders, especially traditional leaders, on land tenure and ownership survey conducted in the Nasia and Naboya valleys in the Northern Region ahead of the implementation of the GCAP.
The survey was to understand the land systems in the catchment areas, the ownership and how to address potential challenges.
He said the project was one of the government’s priority initiatives to transform the agricultural sector into a vibrant commercial entity with the private sector by increasing productivity.
Dr Alhassan appealed to the chiefs to work in harmony with the project’s partners to revamp agriculture business in the region adding, “The traditional leaders have the responsibility to make sure that the project works to improve standards of living and address the challenge of malnutrition”.
Mr Alaba Bortey, Co-ordinator of GCAP, said the project sought to increase access to land, private sector finance, input- and output-markets by smallholder farms, from public-private-partnerships in commercial agriculture in Accra Plains and Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zones on land for which there were significant ambiguities concerning legal ownership and the re-allocation of assets from failed investments, especially land.
He said GCAP would support low hanging fruits scheme and that matching grants would be provided to existing or emerging investors who were willing to partner small holder farmers under a nucleus out-grower scheme or contract arrangements in the Accra Plains and the East Bank and the SADA Zone.
Mr Bortey said the project would develop 20,000 hectors of irrigation in the Nasia/ Nabogo valleys for nucleus out-grower schemes and contract farming.
He said the project would also carry out the rehabilitation of state-owned warehouses and support private investment in new warehouses in the Northern Regional Zone under a Public Private Partnership arrangement.
Mr Suleman Mahama, a Consultant of the Project, said the region was one of the best drained areas in the country and that the main challenge was impassable nature of the roads which made it difficult for farmers to transport their produce to marketing centres.
Source: GNA