By Murtala Issah
Eight thousand hectares of land in Northern Ghana are to be brought under cultivation under a new project dubbed the Savannah Agriculture Value Chain Development Project.
The five-year project is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and seeks to boost the production of rice, soyabeans, and maize within the Savannah Ecological Zone.
Deputy Minister for Agriculture in charge of crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, who launched the project in Tamale, lauded the AfDB for complementing government’s efforts to increase food production.
The launch of the Savannah Agriculture Value Chain Development Project follows the successful implementation of the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) and the Savannah Investment Programme between 2017 and 2021. The two initiatives significantly increased the production of rice, maize, soyabeans, and meat within the Savannah Ecological Zone.
The launch of the Savannah Agriculture Value Chain Development Project is aimed at consolidating the gains made under SAPIP and SIP. The National Coordinator for the project, Felix Dramani, explained that the initiative forms part of the post-COVID-19 reconstruction effort to address food insecurity. He disclosed that the project will be implemented through government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme across nine districts in the Savannah Ecological Zone.
The AfDB is funding the project at a cost of 32.5 million dollars. In her address at the launch of the project in Tamale, the Country Manager for the AfDB, Ms. Eyerusalem Fasika, lauded partners in Ghana for their commitment, which has ensured the success of earlier projects. She noted that the disruption of global food production as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war is a wake-up call for African countries to strive to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
The Deputy Minister for Agriculture in charge of crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, in his remarks to launch the project, said government is committed to exploit Ghana’s Agriculture potential to wean it off food imports. He lauded the AfDB for its continued investment in Ghana’s Agriculture sector.
