Include small-scale farmers in COVID-19 stimulus package - Urbanet says it will ensure food security

The Executive Director of Urbanet, a local based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr Zakari Abdul Rashid, has suggested that small-scale farmers in the country should be included in the central government’s COVID-19 stimulus package to support entities that have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

That, he said, would enable them to sustain their farming activities in this global pandemic period to save the nation from food insecurity after the COVID-19.

Mr Rashid made the suggestion when Urbanet, in collaboration with Actionaid, presented some personal protective equipment (PPE), hygiene and handwashing facilities to the Central Gonja District Assembly and some selected stakeholder institutions in the district at Buipe, the district capital, in the Savannah Region last Tuesday.

Beneficiaries/Items

The other beneficiary institutions are the departments of Agriculture, Gender/Social Welfare, District Police Command, District Hospital, Association of People Living with Disability (PWDs) and two civil society organisations (CSOs).

The items included a quantity of Veronica buckets, liquid soap, hand gloves and disinfectants to support in the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Similar donations were also made to the Mion, Gushegu and Kpandai district assemblies and other key stakeholder institutions in these districts in the Northern Region.

Poverty reduction

The gesture forms part of the contributions of Urbanet and its partners, Actionnaid and Tree Aid, implementing the Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project in the Central Gonja, Mion, Gushegu and Kpandai districts towards the fight against COVID-19.

The four-year project, funded by the European Union (EU), is aimed at reducing rural poverty through promoting agricultural practices thus contributing to a green economy, creating opportunities for income generation, the agricultural value chain development, enhancing access to social protection services and promoting decent work in agriculture.

Stimulus package/support

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Mr Rashid said his call for the inclusion of small-scale farmers as beneficiaries of the government stimulus package for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was to help boost food production in the country for post COVID-19 and to ensure food security.

He said the support to the small-scale farmers would go a long way to assist them in their farming activities at this time that the pandemic has impacted negatively on all sectors of the economy, including agriculture.

He stated that the gesture was to contribute towards the government’s effort to contain the virus in the country.

“We are donating these items to the district office and other bodies which are directly dealing with the public every day because where people visit regularly is prone to the virus , hence the decision by Urbanet and its partners to resource these centres with the PPE and the other items to protect the public from being infected by the virus," he said.

Beneficiaries

The District Coordinating Director for Central Gonja, Mr Baba Abukari, who received the items on behalf of the assembly commended Urbanet and its partners for the timely intervention to help the district with the PPE and the items to combat the spread of the COVID-19 in the district.