US ambassador presents vehicles, computers to SARI
The United States (US) Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert P. Jackson, has pledged the commitment of the US towards the government’s effort to transform agriculture in northern Ghana towards food security and poverty reduction.
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The US ambassador made the pledge when he handed over three Toyota Hilux pickup vehicles and 41 desktop computers to the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Nyankpala in the Tolon District of the Northern Region last Thursday.
The presentation of the vehicles and the office equipment formed part of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) US$5.5million technical and financial support to SARI to undertake its research activities in northern Ghana.
The donation is to improve the effectiveness of SARI's agricultural research in northern Ghana to ensure smallholder farmers access to quality seeds and technologies.
Mr Jackson said the support to SARI formed part of the US government’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative to help eliminate hunger and poverty.
He said the US government would continue to partner institutions such as SARI and the government of Ghana to transform agriculture in the country through modern technologies.
"The vehicles will give additional mobility to reach even more communities in the north, and the new equipment will strengthen their ability to conduct quality agricultural research," he stated.
The support
The Director of SARI, Dr Stephen K. Nutsugah, for his part, expressed his gratitude to the USAID for their increasing and sustained support for research as an integral component of USAID's FTF portfolio in Ghana.
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He said the USAID technical and financial support was to improve and maintain infrastructure and facilities to support research and development, develop and implement market and client-oriented sustainable research programme, enhance the capacity of SARI to mobilise and manage resources for research activities and strengthen organisational structures and processes for enhancing service delivery.
Dr Nutsugah said the project was centred on rice, soya bean and maize and added that SARI would continue to come out with high- yielding quality seeds for the three crops for farms to increase their incomes.
He said so far, SARI had released five maize varieties and planned to release extra four this year for farmers.
Earlier in the day, the US ambassador, who was on a three-day site visit to the Northern Region to inspect US government funded projects inspected the Nyankpala Kindergarten block funded by the USAID at the cost of GH¢141,547.49.