Ghana government expands LEAP programme to cover 216 districts
Government is expanding the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, to reach out to 216 districts in the country by the end of the year.
Mr Eugene Nuamah, Operations Officer, Social Protection of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection noted that the LEAP programme is currently available in 186 districts.
He said government is working assiduously to cover the whole country.
Mr Nuamah was speaking at Abompe in the Eastern Region, when 58 farmers affected by fire disaster early this year, defied the rains to receive payment under Emergency LEAP cash transfer programme.
Each farmer received GH¢100 under three phase Emergency LEAP cash transfer.
The farmers who have already taken GH¢100 on two occasions, waited patiently to collect their money although network failure nearly truncated the exercise.
Others also walked through the rain when they got wind of the payment.
The objective of the emergency LEAP cash grant is to address the temporary needs of the affected households by meeting their basic needs and establishing their productive capacity.
Mr Nuamah advised the farmers to take measures to curb bush fires in their bid to protect their crops.
He said his sector Ministry would liaise with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to ensure that they receive seedlings to plant as early as possible.
The farmers appealed to MOFA to as a matter of urgency supply them with cocoa seedlings and plantain suckers to plant as the rain sets.
Although the farmer expressed gratitude to government for cash payment, they pleaded with the Executive to fulfil its promise in providing them cocoa seedlings and plantain suckers to replace what they lost during the fire disaster.
Margaret Oforiwaa, a farmer who lost three acres of cocoa and plantain urged government to provide she and her colleagues with soft loans to they could procure more seedlings.
According to her, she has two children at the senior high school and needs money to pay their fees and procure items for school.
Isaac Twum, a farmer expressed gratitude to government for the financial assistance.
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has disbursed GH¢196,000.00 to victims of the Nsawam quarry explosion under the LEAP cash transfer programme.
In all 655 households from the Paebo near Nsawam –Adogyiri and Abompe, who suffered during last year’s explosion and fire outbreak from the two communities, received GH¢100.00 each.
The disbursement was done in three phases by the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, the GN Bank Limited and the National Disaster Management Organisation at Paebo.
In December last year residents suffered from explosion at A.K.Y Mining Site, which resulted in deaths, injuries and damage of a number of properties.
In the case of Abompe, fire swept farms in January this year, destroying cocoa and plantain crops.
Source: GNA