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MiDA and MOFA sign 10.7 million-dollar
agreement
Accra, Oct. 22, Ghanadot/GNA - The Millennium Development
Authority (MiDA), which is responsible for implementing and
managing the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Ghana
Programme, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA)
on Monday signed a 10.7 million-dollar implementing entity
agreement aimed to support, upgrade and develop Farmer-Based
Organisations (FBOs).
Under the deal, about 60,000 farmers would be trained to
strengthen their business management capacity, adopt new
production technologies and assist to increase crop yields
as well as maximize sales volumes over the five-year period
of the compact.
The 23 district directorates of MOFA would identify,
sensitise and categorise FBOs that meet the eligibility
criteria of the commercial development of Farmer-Based
Organisations.
Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, CEO of MiDA and Mr Ernest Debrah,
Minister of Food and Agriculture, signed the agreement on
behalf of their respective organisations.
The 547-million dollar MCA Ghana compact was signed between
the Ghanaian government and its US counterpart and aims to
accelerate the pace of the processes towards enhanced
economic growth and the reduction of poverty.
These processes are to be led by agricultural transformation
activities in 23 pilot districts.
Mr. Eson-Benjamin said 6.1 million dollars of the 10.7
million dollars would be spent on preparing the FBOs to be
ready for the Business Capacity Building Activity intended
to make FBOs more efficient in crop production and more to
be business-like in their marketing and processing
operations.
An amount of 242,700 dollars would be spent on monitoring
and evaluation activities involving studies of crop yields
per unit area while 2.7 million dollars would be used to
build the capacity of 3,000 farmers to become EUREGAP
certified farmers.
The remaining 1.5 million dollars will be spent on
leadership development in the agricultural industry.
"This training activity is intended to enhance farmers'
understanding of specific agricultural practices and enable
these farmers to apply new and effective production
technologies," Mr Eson-Benjamin explained.
He expressed the hope that MOFA would use its expertise and
skilled resources to implement the programme for expected
results.
"We have some four years ahead of us to push this project
through. Speedy and effective implementation of every role
is vital," he added.
Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, pledged
the readiness of the ministry to deliver on the programme.
He said the agreement was a vital first step that defined
the responsibility of each agency involved in the
programme's implementation to avoid faltering along the
road.
GNA
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