GHANA has secured $145 million for the development and expansion of commercial agriculture. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing a grant component of $45 million, while the World Bank will provide $100 million as a loan for the project. Already, the bank has disbursed $9.087 million. The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Kofi Humado, said this at the inauguration of the National Project Steering Committee of the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) in Accra yesterday.
The committee will provide policy direction to the project implementation unit, discuss detailed work programme and spending allocations with the project implementation unit, approve the annual work plans and budgets and review progress made towards achieving the objectives of the project, among other things.
GCAP aims at improving the investment climate for agri- business and develop Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) and smallholder linkages towards increasing on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains. Inaugurating the committee, Mr Humado said the objective of the project was to increase access to land, private sector finance input and output markets for small holder farmers from public, private partnership in commercial agriculture in the Accra Plains and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority zone. He said other areas to be tackled under the project were nucleus out-grower or contract arrangements. Mr Humado explained that the project would benefit both Ghanaian and international investors who would invest in new or expanded opportunities in the appropriate value chains.
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, urged members of the committee to improve the investment climate in the sector to attract investments and also market commercial agriculture. Currently, only 10 percent of farmers use certified seeds to plant their crops. Considering the incredible potential of certified seed in transforming Ghana’s agriculture sector, there remains a great need for seed stakeholders to produce high-quality seed varieties and increase their accessibility to farmers. This requires deliberate promotion of high-yielding and nutritionally rich seeds among Ghanaian farmers to boost agricultural productivity, make farming more profitable, and attract private sector investment. A modern and vibrant seed industry can help realize Ghana’s vision of food security, employment opportunities and reduced poverty.
To promote the development of Ghana’s seed industry, the National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG) was established in November 2015 with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Agriculture Policy Support Project (APSP). NASTAG is the leading organization for all seed value chain actors in Ghana. The Association is committed to increasing the distribution of quality certified seeds, strengthening seed sector policy and private sector investment in Ghana’s agriculture sector.
NASTAG works with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and other partners to implement seed sector reforms and the Ghana Government’s agriculture flagship program, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ). NASTAG works with the Ghana Government to supply improved quality seeds to farmers through PFJ and creates an enabling environment for private sector investment in seed production.
Under Feed the Future, NASTAG aims to encourage all seed stakeholders to join forces and rally around championing reforms that will guarantee smallholder farmers’ access to high-quality seeds. In Ghana, Feed the Future works to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable communities, improve agricultural productivity and link farmers to agricultural technologies and markets.
