A project to improve the productivity, incomes and livelihoods of about 20,000 smallholder legume farmers in Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions has been launched.

The three-year project dubbed: “Enhancing Soil Health in Northern Ghana: Inoculants Production, Distribution and Utilization through Private-Public Partnership”, seeks to address low soil fertility, high cost of mineral nitrogen fertilizers, lack of production facility for rhizobium inoculants amongst others.

The $999,205 project, which ends in December 2016, is being implemented by the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR –SARI) based at Nyankpala, in the Northern Region, with sponsorship from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Under the project, scientists at CSIR-SARI would disseminate the technologies in inoculants production to smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in the legumes industry in the three regions of the north.

Its benefits include increased private sector participation in inoculants production, commercialization of production and distribution of quality inoculants, increased access of smallholder farmers to quality inoculants and adoption of inoculants technology in legume production by local farmers.

Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, who launched the project on behalf of the Northern Regional Minister, at Tamale, on Monday, said the government was committed to partnering the private sector for improved production of cash crops for economic growth.

The Minister, therefore, assured that the government would continue to create the enabling environment for private public partnership to flourish in the country and commended CSIR-SARI and AGRA for the project, which would address low soil fertility and its effects on crops production.

He urged traditional leaders and land owners ‘to consider women who are interested in farming to get easy access to farm lands.’

Dr Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director General of CSIR-SARI, said the project was in tandem with the government’s private public partnership agenda to stimulate growth and emphasized that it (project) be implemented according to its objectives for the benefit of all.

Dr Stephen Nutsugah, Director of CSIR-SARI, noted that the launch of the project reaffirmed CSIR-SARI’s vision of making agricultural research responsive to farmer needs and national development, adding “The project is geared towards empowering farmers to achieve sustainable production with an added value of achieving sustainable land use for agricultural production.”

He urged the stakeholders, including farmers, non-governmental organizations, agro-input dealers and the financial sector to effectively collaborate to ensure the successful implementation of the project.

Dr Zecharie Zida, Programme Officer of AGRA, expressed delight at the launch of the project, given its numerous opportunities for the farmers and soil health stressed the effective collaboration to ensure success.