Accra, Aug. 15, GNA - The main thrust of the 547.9 million-dollar Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is to fashion out a profitable agriculture sector capable of making Ghanaians get out of poverty. Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Private Sector Development and Chairman of the Board of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), said the support to the agric sector was also intended to make the lives of rural poor better.
Dr Nduom expressed regret that the 60 per cent of Ghanaians in agriculture had the lowest per capita income accounting for only 36 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In this direction, 58 million dollars is to be set aside for the sector with the bulk going for food processing and agriculture sector development. The MCA seeks to reduce poverty through agricultural transformation.
Dr Nduom was addressing journalists on the Ghana Programme of the Millennium Challenge Account at the Ministry of Information Meet-The-Press-Series on Tuesday.
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Transportation and Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture and Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Information and National Orientation were present at the briefing. The 547.9 million-dollar grant is to generally reduce poverty in the three zones of the Northern agricultural belt, the Afram Plains and the Southern horticultural sector.
Outlining the MCA link to Ghana's own development strategy, Dr Nduom said it fell in line with the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy and the current Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy. He said support to the agriculture sector would provide between one million and 1.5 million farmers including 50,000 out-growers and direct jobs for 250,000 nuclear farmers.
He said funding for the sector was significant as it offered opportunity for integrated social and economic development and support governance at the district level.
Dr Nduom said a number of nuclear farmers across the country in the face of daunting challenges of production would be supported under the programme to reduce their cost and make their operations profitable. Under the programme, the Authority would help out-growers to acquire and hold land to be able to access credit. The out-growers would be tied to nuclear farmers who have access to markets, processing and quality management and cool pack houses.
He explained that results from the MCA grant would start emerging by the end of the year.
"We would see the setting up of cooling systems, vegetable and fruit farms that would result in increased export base, development of new access roads and major roads that that link farming areas and the export point at the airport. Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the ministry was involved in designing the agriculture component of the MCA Compact, stressing that it was in line with the government's plan of changing the face of agriculture. 15 Aug. 06