AGRA President calls on Humado

The President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Ms. Jane Karuku, has lauded the good working relationship between AGRA and Ghana which has seen her establishment invest US$40.3million in 56 projects across the country.

Ms Karuku was in the country for five days when she participated in the 6th Africa Agriculture Science week organised by the Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA) and paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr. Clement Kofi Humado, at the Ministry last week.

AGRA works across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their family lift themselves out of poverty and hunger, and has former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Board Chair.

Ms. Karuku said AGRA is a granting mechanism created to break down barriers along the agriculture value chain that works across 16 African countries.

Enumerating some of AGRA’s objectives and achievements, Ms Karuku said it supports the seed sector, where 15,000 agro-dealers link science and smallholder farmers; and it also assists them with market access, access to finance at lower rates as well as work with policies - all in a bid to ensure food security and better incomes for smallholder farmers.

She added that AGRA has engaged students at tertiary institutions like the University of Ghana in capacity-building programmes, numbering about 800 students, who were awarded certificates.

Ms. Karuku identified policy problems as the bane to agriculture development in Africa, but lauded Ghana for making progress and introducing laws and policies that advance growth of the agriculture sector.

For his part, the Minister of Food and Agriculture Kofi Humado also commended AGRA for its assistance to the agriculture sector -- especially in seed development, which he described as weak at the farmer level.

He indicated that his ministry is the principal architect of the “Breadbasket” programme for Brong Ahafo and northern ecological zones to help reduce endemic poverty in that region. He noted that last season there was a lot of grain produced, but access to markets remains the major challenge.

Consequently, he indicated that this year MOFA is focusing on market-access and stated that establishment of the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) was purposely to mop-up excess grain. Mr. Humado added that the capital outlay required by NAFCO is huge.

He also mentioned the Savannah Marketing Company in Tamale is assisting in mopping-up the excess grains, and noted that the country requires a vibrant poultry, fish and piggery sub-sector to absorb the abundant grain being produced owing to the employment of modern agricultural methods by farmers.

He said the Ministry is also looking at investing in technology like e-agriculture, and appealed to the private sector to assist with the provision of warehouses to store excess production.

He concluded by saying that food security is a very big agenda that Governments alone cannot confront. He therefore called on everybody to come on board to ensure that the country achieves food security for its people. MOFA, he noted, is also investing heavily in the construction of warehouses.