Wa, Nov. 23, GNA – The Centre for Women in Agriculture and Nutrition (CWAN) has commended the government for establishing the “Ghana Agricultural Land Information Bank” (GhLIB), which it said would help improve the agricultural sector.
It said the initiative, if successful, would help address the challenges women, youth, and persons who want to embark on large commercial farming encounter with regards to land acquisition.
Mr Emmanuel W. Wullingdool, the Executive Director for the CWAN, an agricultural and nutrition-sensitive Non-governmental Organisation operating in the Wa West and Diaffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) Districts, gave the commendation in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa on Tuesday.
Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the Minister of Finance, announced the proposed establishment of the GhLIB in the 2022 budget and economic policy presented to the Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021.
The initiative is “expected to provide a reliable and easily accessible land-based information platform to improve and facilitate access to land for commercial farming”.
“The agricultural sector currently contributes about 20 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation and employs over 30 per cent of the country’s labour force.
“In spite of this, the sector is characterised by challenges such as access to fertile lands, access to credit facilities, and post-harvest management among others”, the statement explained.
The statement, therefore, called for the speedy implementation of the initiative to help address the peculiar needs of women and youth access to arable lands for farming purposes.
GNA