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MOFA
calls for more funding at district level
Tamale, August 5, Ghanadot/GNA - Mr. Sylvester Adongo,
Northern Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, has
appealed for more funding for agriculture at the district
level to enable the ministry to meet its agriculture
production targets.
Mr. Adongo was speaking at a two-day regional stakeholders’
workshop on the “Agriculture Sector Plan” (ASP) in Tamale on
Monday.
The six-year ASP is envisaged to transform agriculture.
The workshop, which brought together District Directors of
Agriculture, District Coordinating Directors, farmer-based
organisations (FBOs) and NGOs in the region, is to study a
draft of the ASP and draw up new strategies for effective
implementation of agricultural plans at the district level.
The draft ASP seeks to address adoption of improved
technologies, increase agriculture research funding and
promote cash crop, livestock and fisheries production.
Other goals are the development of new products and
development chains for selected commodities, strengthening
of FBOs and out-grower schemes concept, development of rural
infrastructure and support for urban and peri-urban
agriculture.
Mr. Adongo said despite several attempts to increase
agricultural output, the potential in cotton, rice and
sheanut production had not been realized.
He appealed to district directors of agriculture and the
DCDs to take a critical look at the new strategies and
either broaden or narrow them to suit their peculiar
district needs to ensure effective implementation.
He said the DCDs were the pivots on which the development of
the districts depended and therefore called on them to step
up their monitoring and supervisory roles to ensure success
of the ASP in their areas.
Professor Saa-Ditto, a resource person at the workshop, said
global warming would in the near future bring about water
shortages and appealed to agriculturalists to brace
themselves up to meet the challenges.
He said the problem now is not whether there is enough water
or a shortage of it but how to conserve it and use it
efficiently for agriculture.
Professor Saa-Ditto, who is an agricultural economist, urged
district assemblies to identify crops that do well in their
areas and put more resources into their production.
GNA
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