Fatima Anafu-Astanga
Nangodi (UE), Nov. 8, GNA – Some 18 small ruminants have been recovered from twelve beneficiaries of the Government flagship programme, Rearing for Food and jobs (RFJs), in the Nabdam district of the Upper East Region.
The 12 beneficiaries, include five males and seven females, who received a total of 40 sheep in 2019 but delayed in giving back some offspring for further distribution as agreed earlier.
In a recent report carried out by the GNA on the programme, farmers had failed to give the desired response expected of them, by following the rules and conditions of the recovery of the programme in the region.
However, a recent report shared by the Department of Agriculture indicated that some visits carried out by the staff of the department to the farmers had started yielding results.
According to the reports, the 18 offspring had been passed on to seven new beneficiaries who were mainly women from seven communities namely Zanlerigu, Sakote, Nyogbare, Kotintabig and Kalini all in the Nabdam district.
Mr Joseph Adjabui, the Nabdam District Director of the department of Agriculture, who spoke with the Ghana News Agency at Nangodi, reiterated the difficulties encountered with some farmers when the team visited them for recoveries and said from that experience, women proved to be more trustworthy and so the 18 young ruminants retrieved were passed on to females in other communities.
The Nabdam District is one of five districts out of fifteen MDAs in the region that received the support in 2019.
He said the five year intervention (2019-2023) aimed to improve domestic livestock production, reduce importation of livestock products and contribute to employment creation and improve livelihoods.
In the Nabdam district 40 small holder farmers received 400 Sheep out of a total package of 2000 small ruminants distributed in the region in 2019.
Ms Esther Agumah, the Regional Livestock Officer, said 978 new lambs were recovered from other districts out of which 307 of them died while 671, that survived were given to 41 beneficiaries.
GNA