Women in shea nut trade back to business

Mma Azara and her sister drying shea nuts

WOMEN who collect and sell shea nuts in Tamaligu, a farming village in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region, are back to active business.

Their business slowed down drastically for several years when the road they use to transport the nuts to market centres deteriorated and virtually became impassable during the rains.

That particular stretch of road is a 4.5km feeder road that links the community to Kukuobila, another town in the district that is located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Luckily for the women and the entire village, the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) intervened and awarded the road on contract for rehabilitation.

Northern Rural Growth Programme transforms agriculture in Northern Ghana

A dry season maize farmer in Jirapa

AGRICULTURE has over the years been noted as the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

More than 50 per cent of the country’s labour force was estimated to be in the agricultural sector, as indicated by the 2000 Population and Housing Census.

In spite of this, many farmers in Ghana remain poor, especially in Northern Ghana, which boasts of boundless agricultural potentials.

It was to address this problem that the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), an eight-year agricultural initiative, was formulated.

Savelugu School for the Deaf - saddled by poor infrastructure

THE Savelugu School for the Deaf is one of the country’s special schools that provide education to hearing-impaired children.

Some of the kids in class

 Established in March, 1978, the school was initially set up as a unit under the Nyohini Rehabilitation Centre in Tamale, but was subsequently moved to the Savelugu Middle Boarding School located in the outskirts of Savelugu.
Since then, the school has provided formal education to many hearing-impaired children, particularly from the three regions of the north.
During a visit to the school, the Daily Graphic observed that poor infrastructure and the delays in the release of subvention, among others, continue to impact negatively on academic work and the general wellbeing of the children.

14,000 farmers benefit from AGRA-DANIDA project

A smallholder farmer in Jirapa

FOURTEEN-THOUSAND farmers in the Northern Region have so far benefited from an agricultural project initiated by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

The Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) seeks to transform agriculture in the Northern Region through three main approaches: intensifying the adoption of integrated soil fertility management technologies, enhancing farmers' access to inputs and linking farmers to markets.
It is in line with a broader strategy to contribute to the government's objective of achieving food security and developing the region's agricultural sector into an agro-industrial economy.
The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Nyankpala is implementing the soil fertility component of the project, whilst the International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre (GAABIC) are implementing the two other components.