Project to increase farm yields launched in Volta Region
A project seeking to increase the yields of small-holder farmers through the transfer of integrated soil fertility management strategies and interventions has been launched at Atonkor-Buem in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region.
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It is the scaling up of a project which had been implemented on a pilot basis in the Jasikan, Hohoe and Kadjebi districts in the last four years by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) through a non-governmental organisation, Africare.
Scope
The project will focus on the production of maize, cassava and cowpea, using the value chain approach, to enable farmers to produce and market their commodities in profitable and sustainable ways.
The project, with the objective of increasing food security and farm incomes, is targeted at more than 20,000 farmers.
Launching the project, the country head of AGRA, Dr Kwasi Ampofo, announced that 18,115 farmers had adopted the integrated soil fertility management technology which had contributed to increase in maize yields from 1.5 tonnes to between 2.9 and 3.5 tonnes per hectare in the last four years.
He said an opportunity had also been created for farmers to access credit to buy inputs.
“We want farmers to think of, and practise farming as a business,” Dr Ampofo said, adding that “we want to work with partners to integrate all interventions such as seed production, soil fertility management and agriculture markets in one seamless intervention to enable agriculture to become the engine for economic growth in Ghana”.
Africare interventions
The Project Manager of Africare, Ms Hazel Hasford, said collaboration would be sought with the municipal and district departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and other identifiable organisations in the implementation of the project.
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She said the organisation had provided more than $1 billon worth of assistance and support through about 2,500 projects on agriculture and food security; water, sanitation and hygiene; women’s empowerment; health and HIV/AIDS in 36 countries.
A member of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Dr Kwaw Senyi Andam, said researchers from the Universities of Ghana and Cape Coast would be deployed to evaluate activities with the view to providing feedback to Africare on its interventions.
Value chain
The Volta Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Samuel Larbi, said the value chain concept had been formulated to help develop agriculture in the country. Therefore, there was no need for farmers to cry for markets again, within that chain.