A GNA feature by Nicholas Nii Abbey (AIJC Intern)

Accra, Aug. 22, GNA - Converting 547.9 million dollars into cedis is plenty of money and almost every Ghanaian is sure to get a hot snack if the Government decided to share the money equitably to every household.

Fortunately Ghana has attracted the exact amount of money, which has transformed the development folder of Ghana into an economic dinosaur.

However, the money, which would be in trenches for a five-year lifespan under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is not meant to be shared to satisfy alimentary needs.

The long-term objective is to teach people how to fish and not to put fish on their dinning tables.

The MCA was signed under the watchful eyes of President John Agyekum Kufuor and US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and other high-ranking officials of the World Superpower on August 1, 2006 in Washington.

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Public Sector Reform, who was part of the Ghanaian Team that landed huge capital, told Journalists at a briefing that the main thrust of the MCA was to fashion out a profitable agriculture sector capable of making Ghanaians to get out of poverty. Dr Nduom, who is also the 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 the rural poor better.

He 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.

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 Growth and Poverty-Reduction Strategy II.

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 supported governance at the district level.

Dr Nduom said a number of nuclear farmers across the country facing daunting challenges of production would be supported under the programme to reduce their cost and make their operations profitable. Under the programme, the MiDA 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 linked farming areas and the export point at the airport.

All the 120 rural banks in the country are to be computerized and linked up in a Wide Area Network (WAN) as part of the benefits of the MCA aimed at securing an efficient payment system using a networked rural banking system.

Twenty-two million dollars would be dedicated to the transformation that would not only help in the payment of beneficiary nuclear and out-grower farmers but also to pay cocoa farmers and pensioners. The MCA programme logic according to Dr Nduom was to reduce poverty through agricultural modernisation, as programmed in the GPRS II. It is also to ensure increased production of high value cash and staple crops while enhancing competitiveness of agricultural products in regional and international markets.

Dr Nduom said the upcoming National ID System would also support the idea of linking up the banks adding that talks had already started to rope in the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He indicated that only rural banks in the 23 districts benefiting from the MCA would be disbursing the funds, stressing that, "these funds would have to be paid back to ensure that other people benefit as well".

The district assemblies would be involved directly in the procurement process and manage the projects as they came along. Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said he was impressed about the roll-on effect that such a transformation would have on the banking industry noting that delays in processing documentation would be reduced to the barest minimum while payments could be done faster across banks.

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.

While patting the President at the shoulder for helping to bring home the MCA, it is hoped that probity and accountability would be the catch phrase in making maximum use of the capital. 22 Aug. 06