ADVANCE to carry out GIS mapping of rice, soya and maize

The Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) Program is to carry out a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping exercise of rice, soya and maize fields in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana.

The programme funded by the United States Agency for# International Development (USAID) is scheduled to begin from July 11 to August 11, 2011 with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of the food crops through better use of improved technologies.

A stated issued by Adwoa Mensima Sey, Public Relations and Communications Specialist of ADVANCE to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday, mentioned other objectives as developing efficient supply chain for value chain leaders and providing a technological tool for outgrower management by nucleus farmers.

“It also sought to help farmers to calculate their plot sizes for production planning and resource allocation”.

The statement said the exercise would involve 53 students, trained as GIS surveyors, from the University of Ghana, Cape Coast University, University of Development Studies and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

It further said a total of 6,500 farmers would be mapped and profiled during the exercise.

Source: GNA