The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an agriculture-based organisation, is to support about 1.2 million people in the country to move from subsistence farming to a market-oriented and diversified farming system by 2028.
The initiative is aimed at not only ensuring food security, but also building the capacity of the beneficiary farmers to earn more incomes.
This came to light when the organisation unveiled a five-year strategy plan to promote processing of agricultural produce to benefit smallholder farmers in the country.
The AGRA Country Manager for Ghana, Juliette Lampoh-Agroh, who announced this at the launch of the Ghana Strategy Plan 2023-2027 in Accra yesterday, said the organisation was focused on creating opportunities for the youth and women.
Partnership
The country manager, however, called for partnerships to help realise the objective of the programme, adding that no single institution can do it all alone.
“So we invite you to come with us on this journey as we deliver the transformation and the impact required,” Ms Lampoh-Agroh added.
She said her outfit was hopeful that the strategy would catalyse into an all inclusive transformation of the country’s agro food system.
By growing a competitive agro processing sector, Ms Lampoh-Agroh said the strategy would drive productivity, trade and resilience of smallholder farmers and also support livelihoods.
“This strategy aims to create an enabling environment that will enhance the competitiveness of SMEs in the agro processing and the value addition sector as we also look to enhance the resilience of raw materials,” she said.
Ms Lampoh-Agroh further identified the lack of linkage between agriculture and industry as one of the gaps the strategy intends to address.
She also mentioned some of the crops that would benefit from the intervention to include maize, rice, cassava cowpea, groundnut and vegetables.
Background
Founded in 2006, AGRA is an African-led organisation that seeks to catalyse agriculture transformation on the continent.
AGRA, which is based on the continent, is focused on putting stakeholder farmers at the centre of Africa’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive through farming into a thriving business, among other objectives.
Challenges
Ms Lampoh-Agroh further said that as much as statistics indicated, the country was one of the most food secure nations in sub-Saharan Africa but there were still some challenges.
“We know, for instance, that about 3.6 million people are food insecure.
We know that only about 35 per cent of Ghanaians are able to afford healthy diets, so there are issues,” Ms Lampoh-Agroh said.
“We need a systemic transformation that ensures that high quality, safe, nutritious and affordable food, which was sustainably produced, was available to all citizens,” she said.
Support
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, in a speech read on his behalf, described AGRA as a formidable partner in helping to transform agriculture in the country
He said since 2017, over $60 million had been invested in the sector, particularly in areas of policy, seeds, markets and soil health, as well as the development of government policies such as “Planting for Food and Jobs.”
SOURCE: GraphicOnline
