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Water filters for sorghum farmers in Upper West Region
Wa, Feb. 28, Ghanadot/GNA - TechnoServe,
a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the assistance of
Guinness Ghana Limited has provided 500 water filters to
sorghum farmers in the Upper West Region who lived in
communities where access to clean water was a real
challenge.
The items formed part of the 22,000 water filters valued at
30,000 dollars that the NGO provided for the 2007 floods
disaster victims in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West
Regions.
Mr. Stephen Mwinkaara, Project Manager of the West Africa
Sorghum Value Chain Development Project who presented the
items, said since 2003, TechnoServe, in partnership with
Guinness Ghana had been actively involved in the development
of the sorghum industry.
He said lessons learnt from the past years had stimulated
the establishment of the West Africa Sorghum Value Chain
Development Project, which is collaboration between Guinness
Ghana Breweries Limited and the common Fund for commodities
and TechnoServe.
He said the implementation of the project in April 2006, has
so far assisted more than 3,000 farmers to produce and
supply 2, 000 metric tonnes of sorghum valued at 825,000
Ghana Cedis.
Mr. Mwinkaara said, apart from sponsoring the project,
Guinness Ghana has also provided market for the sorghum
produced.
In addition to helping to produce and supply sorghum, they
have been concerned with the other socio-economic needs of
farmers.
The Project Manager said under Guinness Ghana Water for life
Porject, it was providing boreholes for rural communities in
phases and 10 boreholes were being drilled in Northern Ghana
under this phase.
He mentioned Poyentanga and Goziiri in the Upper West
Region, as two communities that would benefit from the
project while the second phase would be implemented this
year to benefit more needy communities.
Mr. Mwinkaara said it was the hope of the NGO and Guinness
Ghana that the filters and boreholes would help reduce the
incidence of waterborne diseases among farmers in the flood
affected communities.
He urged farmers to reciprocate the gesture by taking their
farming activities seriously to enable them to earn more
money for themselves.
Receiving the items on behalf of the farmers, the Upper West
Regional Minister, Mr. George Hikah Benson, expressed regret
at the devastating nature of the floods to the people and
thanked TechnoServe and Guinness Ghana for the items.
He said proper utilization of the water filters would help
keep the farmers healthy and productive and encourage more
farmers to go into sorghum cultivation to reduce poverty in
the north.
He said he and District Chief Executives in the region would
go into sorghum cultivation this year to motivate others to
emulate them.
GNA
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