AGRA gives $300,000 support to ‘planting for food and jobs’

The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has made available $300,000 in support of the government’s aggressive push towards transforming the nation’s agriculture.

Mr. Forster Kwame Boateng, its Country Head, Ghana, said it went into quality seeds production and fertilizers under the ‘planting for food and jobs’ programme.

Added to this was the development of a subsidy model and farmers’ biometric registration to aid tracking of the distribution of subsidized inputs to make sure that these went to the right people.

Interacting with journalists in Kumasi, he said, the Alliance was eager to see small-holder farmers doubled crop yield and income.

Mr. Boateng said it was therefore determined to forge stronger partnership with the government to craft a comprehensive strategic plan for the ‘planting for food and jobs’.

As part of this, it was working closely with the Ministries of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and Monitoring and Evaluation, to put in place systems to strengthen accountability of donor funds.

They were also looking at setting up coordination mechanisms to manage government’s investments in the regions and districts.

Mr. Boateng applauded the bold decision by the government to provide an insurance cover, to assure lenders – banks that giving loans to the agricultural sector was no longer risky.

The insurance is coming under the Ghana Incentive Risk Sharing Agricultural Base Lending, to be supervised by Bank of Ghana.

Mr. Boateng announced that the Alliance was partnering the World Bank to provide crop insurance for farmers on flexible terms to encourage lenders to grant them loans to expand their businesses.

AGRA exists to fulfill the vision that Africa can feed itself and the world – transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives.

Source: GNA