By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, June 26, GNA - The Farmer Support Activity (FSA), a USAID-funded initiative, today outdoored a cash scheme to help 17,000 smallholder farmers mitigate the impact of long dry spells, increase temperatures and a flood of climate change.
Under the initiative, each farmer will receive GHS3,499.65 (USD 315) from June to August 2023 to build the resilience of productive smallholder farmers to shocks and preserve agricultural productivity.
With the support, farmers from 17 districts of the northern regions will be able to cope with high input prices, without resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as reducing cultivated land or inputs, or the quality and quantity of household meals.
The FSA is a collaborative initiative of the World Food Programme (WFP) Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the National Identification Authority, USAID African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership and ACDI/VOCA through the Market Systems Resilience Initiative, MTN, and the Institute of Economic and Development Research.
Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, in charge of Crops, who launched the initiative in Accra, commended the donors and implementers, explaining that it would benefit women, youth, and people with disabilities, who live on agriculture.
The Deputy Minister who described the initiative as remarkable reiterated that access to capital was one of the obstacles smallholder farmers faced.
He expressed the hope that the yields from the initiative would contribute to the country’s food security and help reduce food inflation.
The initiative, Mr Addo said, was in line with the Government soon to be outdoored enhanced Planting for Food and Jobs programme, which would have a similar component.
He said the programme would take off in the southern part of the country this minor farming season.
Mr Addo urged the farmers to deliver and fight local poverty, increase food production and ensure food security.
Ms Barbara Clemens, World Food Programme Representative and Country Director said already about 16,000 had been registered and that the selected farmers had landholdings of between one to ten.
The WFP, she said, was exploring opportunities to leverage GIS technology (satellite imagery and remote sensing), to monitor crop types, trends, and patterns of productivity of the targeted farmers, to inform impact.
While global events may call to question the attainment of Zero Hunger by 2030, it is clear to me that it is doable only through coordination, collaboration, and synergizing our collective efforts to maximizing our impact,” he said.
Ms Clemens said WFP would continue to collaborate and partner with all actors in the food and nutrition security space.
Ms Amber Lily Kenny, Deputy Director, Economic Growth of Office, USAID Ghana, said the FSA was valued at $7 million and would bolster food security.
She said, “By partnering with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and USAID, WFP aim to harness the Government’s expertise to empower farmers and strengthen agricultural practices.”
GNA