By Nakiba Moomin, GNA
Tamale, Oct 30, GNA – The Coalition of Northern Farmers Association (CNFA) has engaged stakeholders in the agricultural sector to discuss measures to strengthen agricultural mechanisation services in the northern part of the country.
It sought to address challenges facing smallholder farmers including limited access to farm machinery, the cost of mechanisation services and maintenance of existing equipment.
It also focused on strengthening existing agricultural mechanisation centres and exploring ways to establish new ones to improve farmers’ access to affordable and reliable agricultural mechanisation services.
Participants included representatives of farmer associations including the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships (CLIP) under the Empowerment for Life (E4L) Programme, ActionAid Ghana, URBANET, Northern Regional Coordinating Council amongst other stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
Mr Hamidu Sulemana, the President of CNFA, speaking during the event, said many farming activities in the northern part of the country were still carried out manually with mechanisation services often limited to ploughing rather than extending to other activities such as harvesting and processing.
He expressed need for government to establish agricultural mechanisation centres in the districts to make such services more affordable and accessible to farmers especially women and persons with disabilities.
He said the CNFA would engage District Departments of Agriculture to identify existing mechanisation centres, assess their operational status and determine the challenges affecting their effectiveness to inform its advocacy efforts.
He also highlighted the importance of proper equipment maintenance and the availability of qualified technical personnel to ensure the sustainability of the centres.
Ms Ubaida Ibrahim, the Technical Officer for Livelihoods and Business Development at CLIP under the E4L Programme, said the dialogue was to gather input from farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to strengthen the CNFA’s advocacy.
She said the input gathered would provide an evidence-based basis for engaging the government on challenges affecting agricultural mechanisation.
She said the CNFA currently covered the Northern, North East and Savannah Regions where the E4L Programme operated but could expand its membership to other regions in the future.
Mr Abdul-Jabaru Mohammed, the Programme Manager, E4L Programme, who was represented at the event, said the E4L Programme had facilitated the formation of the CNFA to enable farmer associations to advocate collectively on issues affecting their livelihoods.
He said the programme was also working with the CNFA to develop strategies to sustain its operations and advocacy activities beyond the programme’s lifespan.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh/Benjamin Mensah
Caption: Participants during the event
Reporter: Nakiba Moomin
Email address: [email protected]