Food security project trains 8,500 farmers in improved crop production

Tamale, Feb. 23, GNA - The Northern Ghana Food Security Resilience Project (NGFSRP) has trained over 8,500 farmers in the Northern and Upper West Regions on improved crop production practices, group formation and the value added chain in food production. It also trained 7,066 farmers in harvesting and post harvest handling technologies to enable them to produce more food, store and sell the surplu= s later to generate income for their households.

Mr Issac Kankam-Boadu, Project Manager, ADRA-Ghana, disclosed this at the Annual stakeholders' review workshop of the Project in Tamale on Wednesday.

The NGFSRP is a 20-month project being implemented in Central Gonja, West Gonja, Bole, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts all in the Northern region and the Wa Municipality, Wa East and Nadowli Districts in the Upper West region= .. The Project aims at reducing food insecurity for 10,000 resource poor and vulnerable small-scale rural farmer households of approximately 70,000 people to improve on their income.

Mr Kankam-Boadu said at the beginning of the project in January 2010, 73,188kg of improved seeds of maize, groundnut and soyabean and 21,849 bags of fertilizers were distributed to farmers, while 7,887 acres of land were ploughed in over 179 communities across the districts. He said other key achievements of the Project were building stronger partnerships with stakeholders and local non governmental organisations and the inclusion of over 40 percent participation of the vulnerable, particularly women, widows and the blind.

He said the farmers had also adopted over 80 percent of the technologies they were taught and had realized between 300-400 percent crop yield increases. Mr Kankam-Boadu said within a year of its implementation the NGFSP had been able to change the traditional farming practices in communities such a= s Soalepe, Achubunyo, Bonyonton and Mempeasem all located along the Fulfulso-Damongo road.

He said another significant achievement of the Project in its first year of implementation was that 15 of the project farmers were adjudged bes= t farmers in various categories throughout the seven project districts during last year's Farmers Day celebration while ADRA was also adjudged the best collaborating NGO in the West Gonja District. 2