By Philip Tengzu
Fian, (UW/R), June 7, GNA – The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has relieved farmers in some rural communities of the challenges they face in accessing certified agro-inputs as the farming season sets in.
This was through the “Agro-input Fora” initiative held since 2021 under the Market Oriented Agricultural Programme in North West Ghana (MOAP-NW), a component of the European Union-funded Ghana Agricultural Programme (EU-GAP).
The fora were facilitated in 42 locations across the MOAP-NW operational area – 11 districts in the Upper West Region, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, and North Gonja districts in the Savannah Region and the Mamprugu Moagduri district in the North East Region.
The annual fora were aimed to ensure that at least 15,000 smallholder farmers had access to agro-inputs as well as received advice on good agricultural practices from experts.
This year’s edition on the theme: “Enhancing Inputs Linkage for Sustainable Production in North West Ghana”, involved 125 agro-input dealers.
Mr Emile Aman, Input and Crop Protection Expert with MOAP-NW encouraged farmers to patronise inputs from certified input dealers who could advise them on Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs).
He was addressing farmers at separate fora in Fian in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) District and Sabuli in the Jirapa Municipality.
He said the fora were to facilitate linkages between GIZ-trained input dealers and the VSLA groups who were mainly farmers, to create a platform for experts including the MOAP-NW to disseminate information on GAPs, health and safety to farmers and promote bio-pesticides.
“We want to emulate in them (farmers) the attitude of planning for them to know that when the season starts they have to plan, and they have to deal with certified agro-input dealers.
Agro-input dealers are now a point of advisory service and they can sell to the farmers quality chemicals that are certified by the various regulatory bodies”, Mr Aman told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He indicated that the input dealers and the VSLA groups organised this year’s fora, facilitated by MOAP-NW, and expressed hope that it would be sustained in the joint project area even after the project exited.
Madam Fadila Ahmed Tijani, Monitoring and Evaluation Expert with MOAP-NW, observed that access to agro-inputs in the rural communities remained a challenge to farmers and the agro-input fora were to bring the inputs to their doorstep.
She also encouraged the farmers to maximise the farming technologies and knowledge the project had imparted to them to improve their lots.
Some of the farmers who spoke to the GNA acknowledged the impact of the fora on their farming activities including increasing their access to inputs without hustle.
Madam Evelyn Naazie, a farmer in the Fian community in the DBI District, said the forum had benefited her including cutting her cost of transportation to and fro the markets to buy the inputs.
The input dealers at the forum also recounted the benefits of the initiative to them and gave the assurance that they would ensure its sustainability.
Mr Kogliyiri Balinne, an input dealer in Jirapa, educated the farmers on the different types of agrochemicals available, their usage and the appropriate ways of applying them to achieve the expected results.
The farmers were also educated on soil fertility management, crop production techniques, pest and disease control and post-harvest management among others.
The VSLA Agro-input Fora were organised in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture through the Departments of Agriculture and the Plant Protection and Regulatory Service Directorate.
GNA