50,000 Households to benefit from agro-inputs distribution project
About 50,000 households are set to benefit from an agro-input distribution initiative by the government aimed at improving access to climate-smart inputs.
This is intended to boost agricultural production in the 2025 cropping season across the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone.
The project also seeks to enhance food and nutrition security, particularly for women, youth and vulnerable groups, with a specific target of reaching 30,000 direct beneficiaries.
Dubbed: “Agro-Input Distribution Project,” the intervention will be implemented in 12 selected districts across six regions.
The beneficiaries would receive fertiliser, weedicides and pesticides to support the cultivation of maize, rice, soybean and cowpea.
The beneficiary districts include: Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Mion, Savelugu, Nanton, West Gonja, East Mamprusi, Mamprugu Moagduri, Bawku West, Wa Municipal, Nandom, Sissala East, and Krachi East.
The US$20 million project funding money is being provided by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), facilitated by the African Development Bank (AfDB), and implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
The initiative was officially launched in Tamale last Wednesday, alongside the Nkoko Nketenkete Project, which also focuses on boosting agricultural productivity.
Launching the project, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, said the project was designed to scale up the successful interventions of the Savannah Investment Programme (SIP).
“This initiative has been carefully designed to broaden its reach, improve livelihoods, and contribute meaningfully to government’s vision of building sustainable and resilient food systems. It will also strengthen the poultry value chain and reduce our dependency on imported poultry products,” he said.
On the financing component, the minister said a total of GH¢3,835,250 had so far been disbursed through six rural banks to 1,303 farmers, including 619 women, to support crop production and other value chain activities.
He added that the project would establish solar-powered small-scale irrigation systems at 88 sites across the project districts, supporting 3,887 farmers in all-year-round vegetable production.
So far, 47 boreholes have been drilled, of which 20 are earmarked for selected schools to promote school gardening under the Feed Ghana Programme.
Mr Opoku urged beneficiaries to make good use of the inputs provided and cautioned against selling them.
Commendation
The Northern Regional Minister, Ali Adolf John, commended MoFA for including the region in the project, noting that since 2018, the AfDB had created commercial farms in selected districts through the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Project (SAPIP) and SIP.
He explained that the new project would complement the Feed Ghana Programme (FGP), which is designed to accelerate the transformation of Ghana’s agricultural sector.
“This will help ensure food security, create sustainable employment, and enhance economic growth by reducing import dependency while boosting domestic production and exports,” the minister emphasised.
