Gov’t To Set Up Farmers Service Centers Across The Country

The government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, (MoFA) has initiated a programme to establish  Service Centers for use by farmers nationwide.
The multi-purpose centers when completed,  will be  a one-stop shop for the provision of  services such,  mechanization, fertilizer distribution, extension services, produce marketing and provision of credit facilities to farmers, among others.

The  sector minister, Mohammed Muniru Lemuna, who disclosed this at a recent forum in Ho, said a pilot of 50 centers will be set up across the country by the end of the year.
He said  each center will be equipped with at least 10 tractors and accessories, as well as other farming inputs with  experts on site to provide  the requisite services to farmers.
This, according to him would lessen the burden on farmers whiles they focus on their core business to increase their production.

The Agric minister also announced plans to introduce a crop insurance scheme in partnership with the Bank of Ghana in order to compensate farmers who may suffer losses as a result of natural occurrences on their farms.

Alhaji Muniru  Lemuna was speaking at a sensitization forum on the Ghana Agriculture Investment Programme (GASIP) for key stakeholders in the Volta region.
The 7 year agriculture value-chain programme, is designed to be  private-sector led and demand-driven and would facilitate and promote agribusiness  among smallholder farmers.

The  $113 million programme is being financed by Government of Ghana (GoG)  with $7.5 million, while the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is providing a loan of $71.60 million, in addition to a $10million grant for climate change mitigation. Other public sector agencies with the beneficiary entities will provide the remainder of the funding.

The sector minister explained, the funds will support  viable agriculture value-chain businesses with the ultimate goal of boosting the income of smallholder farmers and the rural poor.
“All these interventions is to make agriculture attractive for our youth and women, while increasing yields and ultimately making our farmers richer,” Alhaji Muniru stated.

Story by : Lambert Atsivor/ Volta region

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