Northern Farmers receive 319 Tonnes of Fertilizer

THE Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is distributing 12, 760 bags of fertilizer to farmers in 34 communities in the Northern and Upper East regions.

This is to enable each household in these communities have access to fertilizer in order to increase their yield per acre, record higher earnings and consequently reduce the incidence of poverty in these areas.

The fertilizer, estimated at US$276, 943, was donated to the MVP by one of the world’s largest suppliers of phosphate and potash, Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC of Florida.

At a short ceremony to commence the distribution programme in Kpasinkpe in the West Mamprusi district, the Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi said the intervention was in line with SADA’s efforts to boost productivity of farmers in the north.

He said was working with various organisations and programmes to direct investments into productive areas that would spark the economic transformation of the north.

Explaining the project, the Team Leader of the MVP, Dr Joseph Mensah-Homiah and the regional Business Development Co-ordinator of the Millennium Development Goal Centre in Senegal, Mr Francis Osei said the 34 communities were located in the West Mamprusi and Builsa South districts.

They noted that aside the fertilizer distribution, the programme also had other components that seek to strengthen other aspects of production and marketing.

One of the components, Mr Osei mentioned, involves organising the farmers into co-operatives and linking them to financial institutions to enable them have access to credits.

“The credits would enable the farmers acquire other inputs, such as tractor services and certified seeds,” he explained.

He said another component was looking at how to provide storage facilities of the produce so as to avoid post-harvest losses and also to link the farmers to buyers for their produce.

Mr Osei however noted that the limited number of agric extension agents (AEAs) in the 34 communities could impact negatively on project.

“We need more AEAs to ensure better interface with the farmers and also facilitate the transfer of technologies to increase productivity,” he stated, and hinted that the programme was making arrangements with MOFA to get an extension officer for each of the communities.

The Chief Director of MOFA, Mr Maurice Tanco Abisa-Seidu said he was the ministry was happy that the MVP had given agriculture a priority in its development interventions.

He assured SADA and the MVP of the ministry’s total support to the programme, particularly in making available AEAs for each of the project communities.

One of the farmers, Mr Baba Nkrumah expressed delight over the provision of the fertilisers, explaining that without such interventions, many of the farmers would be unable to acquire fertiliser and other inputs.

(Also published in the Daily Graphic of June 8, 2012, Back Page)