USAID Inaugurates Seed Inspection Unit at Tamale

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture have inaugurated a new seed inspection laboratory at Tamale in the Northern Region to provide smallholder farmers in the North with affordable quality seeds.

Ghana Seed Inspection Unit (GSIU) is a unit of the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and its purpose is to increase the quantity and quality of high yielding seeds available to rural farmers.

“The GSIU located in Tamale is one of three seed inspection laboratories constructed by USAID in partnership with MOFA. The laboratories will improve agricultural productivity by increasing access to improved seeds,” USAID said in a statement.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert F. Jackson, was reported to have inaugurated the facility on behalf of the US government, in the presence of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, and the Northern Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, William Boakye-Acheampong.

“The labs will help make certified seeds more available, so that even farmers in the most remote areas are able to use seeds that bring more bountiful harvests.”

“It is up to the Ghana Seed Inspection Unit of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure seeds sold to farmers are true-to-type and high quality. It is important that we all collaborate to ensure Ghana’s seed sector thrives,” Robert Jackson was quoted as saying.

USAID said the new seed laboratory was constructed through its Agriculture Technology Transfer project, which is part of the US government’s global food security initiative “Feed the Future” which works to reduce poverty and malnutrition in rural populations, particularly women and children.

By Emmanuel Odonkor