By Philip Tengzu
Suke, (UW/R), July 12, GNA – Some women smallholder farmers in the Lambussie District say the Market Oriented Agriculture Programme (MOAP NW) has had significant impact on their farming activities, economic transformation, and general improvement on their livelihoods.
They said the programme had helped reduce the drudgery in farming by ensuring guaranteed access to finances and farm inputs such as agro-chemicals and seeds to boost their production.
The German Cooperation for International Development (GIZ), through the MOAP NW, a component of the European Union (EU) Ghana Agricultural Programme (EU-GAP), facilitated the formation of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) schemes in the project communities to serve as sources of finances for the women.
The project had also facilitated the establishment of the annual Input Fora to link farmers and input dealers within the communities to extend farm inputs to the doorsteps of the farmers.
Madam Memunatu Issaka, a beneficiary and member of the Torfilillo Co-operative in Suke, a community in the Lambussie District, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at the community that she was able to pick GH₵1,500.00 from the VSLA to buy input and to acquire ploughing services.
“When I was not in the group, I found it difficult getting money for my farm, but since I joined in 2019, I got a loan at a low interest rate to cultivate my farm.
“If you go to an individual to borrow it is not easy to get it, sometimes you can go and the person will be tossing you, go and come, go and come and the time you realize time is gone and you will not get the money to buy your input early to farm”, Madam Issaka explained.
Madam Justina Dery, another MOAP NW beneficiary in Suke, told the GNA that the intervention by the GIZ and its partners was an eye opener to them and had significantly improved their livelihoods.
She said with the establishment of the VSLA group in that community, she could assess loans at a very low interest rate to support her farming and business activities.
She described an instance where she took a loan of about GH₵5,000.00 to invest in her grain-buying business, which had significantly transformed her economic status.
“I used to struggle to get money to even buy food to eat anytime I was pregnant. But with the VSLA I can take a loan to do whatever I like and then payback with little interest,” she explained.
Talking about the Input Fora, Madam Dery indicated that she no longer had to go through the ordeal of traveling several kilometers to Lambussie or Nandom to buy inputs since she could easily get them within the community.
“We used to go to Lambussie or Nandom to buy farm inputs like seeds or chemicals but with the GIZ support we get these inputs right here in the community.
The money we would have used to fare ourselves to Nandom or Lambussie to buy these inputs can be used to do our other important things,” she explained.
The Fora was initiated in 2021 and had so far linked at least 15,000 smallholder farmers to agro-inputs and good agricultural practice advisory services by experts and MOAP-NW – trained Agricultural Inputs Dealers and were exposed to new innovations at the forum.
It was facilitated in 42 locations across operational communities, with 125 Agro-input dealers in 2023, which increased to 44 locations in 2024.
It targeted farmers and members of VSLAs in all eleven districts of the Upper West, two districts in Savannah and Mamprugu-Moagduri District in the Northeast region.
Also, MOAP NW facilitated the establishment of about 600 VSLAs (79 per cent women members) in its operational zones to enhance internal generation of funds by smallholder farmers through savings for increased investments in their agricultural production.
GNA