Bolgatanga, July 19, GNA - The Government has sent 500 bags of maize in food aid to the Upper East Region as part of efforts to alleviate food shortage in the Region.

The consignment, formed part of 1,000 bags of maize President John Agyekum Kufuor had directed to be given to the poor, who were starving as a result of food shortage in the Region.

Receiving the consignment, which arrived in Bolgatanga on Monday, the Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila said the Regional Coordinating Council brought the plight of the poor in the Region to the attention of the Government and it quickly responded by directing that 1,000 bags of maize be sent to the Region.

He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government was sympathetic to the suffering of the poor and would do everything to alleviate their suffering adding that it was finding a more permanent solution to the perennial food shortage in the Region, which was caused by erratic rainfall pattern.

He said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture was devising a strategy to make it possible for farmers in the Region living near the White Volta to crop thrice in a year to increase food production in the Region.

The Regional Minister said plans were afoot to revamp the Meat Factory at Zuarungu and the Tommato Factory at Pwulugu, both near Bolgatanga, to create jobs for the people and thereby stop them from migrating to Southern Ghana in such of menial jobs.