The facility, which has the capacity to process up to 15 metric tonnes of seed per hour, was acquired by Ganorma through a Feed the Future USAID Ghana ATT project matching grant programme.

It consists of a Dichwe cleaner, Trommel (3-screen), Seed Treaters and Bagging unit that will enhance the processing of large quantities of seed to be distributed to farmers.

The facility also has the ability to process maize, rice, soya, beans, wheat, barley, green coffee beans, cocoa, sunflower and other lighter dry grains.

Certified seeds

At the handover ceremony yesterday (Tuesday), the Chief of Party of the ATT project, Dr Gary Mullins, said under the project, there were plans to increase the usage of certified seeds by farmers in northern Ghana from the current 10 per cent to 40 per cent by 2018.

The move, he explained, was to help farmers increase their yields and incomes to ensure food security and poverty reduction.

According to Dr Mullins, at the inception of the ATT project, certified seed utilisation by farmers in northern Ghana averaged just 10 per cent with the rest relying on continuous usage of farmer saved seeds.

To achieve the 40 per cent target, Dr Mullins said, ATT had supported six selected seed companies and seed distributors in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions to acquire the right infrastructure to support the agenda.

Support to farmers

The President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC), Mr Scott Angle, who led the board of the organisation to officially inaugurate the facility as part of its 43rd Annual Board of Directors’ meeting, pledged the support of  IFDC to the agriculture sector in the country.

He said IFDC would continue to support Ghana’s agriculture sector, especially smallholder farmers, with agriculture inputs such as certified seeds, fertilisers, good agronomic practices and new technologies to enable farmers to increase productivity. Mr Angle said the IFDC was also linking farmers to markets to sell their farm produce.

Appreciation

The CEO of GAC, Alhaji Ganiyu Sulemana, expressed appreciation to the IFDC and ATT for the facility and stated that it would go a long way to increase the production and distribution of certified seeds to farmers in the Northern Region.

The Head of Plan Protection and Regulatory Services Department (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in the Northern Region, Mr Christopher Akai, thanked IFDC for the support to the seed sector in the country.

The ATT project is being funded by USAID and implemented by IFDC.