Speaking at a capacity building workshop for farmer leaders and focal persons on Feed Ghana Programme (FGP) in the Volta and Oti regions and funded by Oxfam, Mr Dzamefe said FGP would increase agricultural productivity and production to reduce imports, improve nutritional outcomes, increase raw material supply to agro-industry and enhance value addition.

It was organized by Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) in collaboration with Volta and Oti Directorates of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in Ho.

Mr Dzamefe said 22 priority commodity value-chains had been selected towards the realization of FGP, which includes, cereal/legumes, vegetables, starchy crops, livestock and tree crops.

He announced the benefits of FGP as establishment of farmers’ service centres, inputs, mechanization, extension, climate-smart technology, marketing linkages, agric credit and insurance.

Mr Dzamefe indicated that 3,321 was registered for the FGP, comprising over 90,000 farmers as of September 2.

Mr Obrien Nyarko, Oti Regional Director of Agriculture, said the FGP was expected to increase agricultural export, create jobs and wealth and introduce irrigation schemes, otherwise unavailable, across the region.

He said it was incumbent on farmers to form farmer-based organisations or cooperatives and register them to facilitate inclusion into the FGP with membership standing at between 15-40 persons.
He urged farmers as a criterion to belong to active community commodity-based FBOs and Cooperatives expected to produce specific crops as a group but could join other groups in the case of multiple-crop farmers.

Mr Nyarko emphasized that under FGP Vegetable initiative for instance, farmers are supposed to crop either tomatoes, pepper or onions.

He said FBOs would eventually metamorphose into full-fledged cooperatives for reliability and monitoring for the success of the programme.
He revealed the Oti region had registered 2,731 cooperatives as of September 2, for the FGP.

Mr Bismark Owusu Nortey, acting Executive Director of PFAG, said the workshop was essential to update farmer leaders on government’s initiative, FGP, and how farmers could take advantage of the programme, modalities to participate and to expand their yields for local consumption and for exports.

He said apart from relying on rain-fed agriculture, farmers were challenged by farming inputs, lack of irrigation facilities, soft loans facilities as well as uncoordinated mechanization and marketing centres.

“The Feed Ghana Programme seek to address the aforementioned challenges,” and was necessary to expose farmers to the initiative.
He said PFAG through beneficiaries would monitor the implementation and measure if the intervention aligned with the collective objective of FGP.

Mr Nortey expressed optimism the FGP would transform the agricultural production and productivity in the next four years, improve food security, reduce the high food import bills, feed industries and for exports.

Mr Eric Addae, a participant from South Dayi, is expectant that the production tripod, constituting government, farmers and buffer stock under the School Feeding Programme would be capable of feeding the schools without importing same from abroad.