By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), March 20, GNA – Some beneficiaries of the Market Oriented Agricultural Programme in North West Ghana (MOAP-NW), a component of the European Union Ghana Agricultural Programme (EUGA), have recounted the impact of the programme on their businesses and livelihood as the programme folds up.
They said they could now increase their production due to the training they received under the programme, which included Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs) and Conservation Agriculture (CA).
The programme also connected agribusinesses, including processors and producers, to markets through its market-linkage intervention, which enabled them to expand their business.
The MOAP-NW programme, which started in 2017, was implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in 14 districts in the Upper West, North East and Savannah Regions under the broader EUGAP.
Ms Jamila Salifu, the Founder of Jamila Future Hopes Enterprise, a food processing company in Sawla in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba (STK) District, Savannah Region, speaking at the programme’s close-out meeting in Wa, emphasised that the programme had linked her business to the national market for her products.
“I was doing it in my small way but after I met the MOAP-NW, it has transformed my business. Now I produce in large quantities and supply to people and supper markets across the country,” she explained.
Ms Salifu added that she had engaged 565 women and youths who produced good-quality soybeans, maize, and groundnuts for her to process.
Madam Margaret Joyce Dangah, a beneficiary cashew farmer in Sing community in the Wa Municipality, said she benefited from a solar-powered irrigation facility from MOAP-NW through a cost sharing approach to enhance water supply to her farm.
She said the facility had enabled her to supply adequate water to three hectares of her 13-hectar-cashew farm.
Madam Dangah said that had led to improved yield, good quality fruits and nuts and good market, which had translated to high income for her family.
Madam Paulina Rozycka, Head of Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, EU Delegation to Ghana, observed that the MOAP-NW was aligned with the government’s drive to develop the agricultural sector.
She said despite challenges the programme faced, it had delivered significant achievements including training of over 83,000 business oriented farmers on climate-smart agricultural practices.
It also created sustainable livelihoods through private sector led approach including development of biopesticides such as the Neem Protector, which had boosted crop yield and formation of about 600 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs).
Others were provision of 871 push planters for smallholder farmers, predominantly women, through a cost-sharing approach and establishment of seven micro-irrigation facilities for women, among others.
Madam Astrid Kohl, Cluster Coordinator Governance and Peace at GIZ, observed that agriculture remained a key driver for employment and Ghana’s economic development.
She said through MOAP-NW, over 3,000 full-time jobs had been created in farming, processing, and in agribusiness services.
“I am deeply convinced that the impact of MOAP will be felt over the years to come, it will be felt in the increased productivity and in the higher incomes of farmers …,” Madam Kohl explained.
Mr Charles Lwanga Puozuing, the Upper West Regional Minister, acknowledged the impact of the MOAP-NW on the agricultural sector in northern Ghana and the livelihoods of the beneficiaries.
He indicated that the government would build on the groundwork established by the programme to ensure the transformation witnessed in the region’s agricultural landscape would become a nationwide reality.
GNA
CAE /LAA