The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Canada High Commission to Ghana has handed over 50 pickups to the regional and district departments of agriculture in the 6 newly created regions of Ghana.

This was done at a short ceremony in Accra at the Engineering Directorate of MoFA on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

The vehicles fall under component 1 & 2 of the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programme under an extended 5 years financing agreement spanning the period 2017-2021. It is also important to add, an additional one year no cost extension has been successfully negotiated and will end in 2022.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Food and Agriculture mentioned that, Canada is one of the earliest supporters of Ghana in Agriculture creating bilateral development assistance as early as 1957.

He said ‘Over the last decade the Canadian Government had provided substantial support to the Agricultural sector and this support continues today through the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana programme (MAG)’.

The Hon. Minister stated that, Given the challenges facing the extension service delivery in the country particularly at the time of rolling out the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, it was required to resource the Departments of Agriculture with the necessary tools, vehicles and motorbikes to ensure an effective and efficient delivery of extension services to ensure the smooth operationalization of the PFJ.

The Hon. Minister was thankful to the Canadian Government for the MAG Programme, He added that, since 2017, MAG made budget allocations for all District Agricultural Departments, Regional Agricultural Departments, MoFA Directorates, Farm and breeding stations.

It was also refreshing to note that, beyond budgetary support, special provisions were made for the procurement of logistics for efficient delivery of agricultural services.

Specifically, 216 double cabin pick-ups and 3,000 motorbikes were handed over to District Departments of Agricultural in 2018 and 2019 respectively, subsequently 20 vehicles for 10 Regional Departments of Agricultural, and 12 vehicles for selected Directorates in MoFA where delivered.