BY: MOHAMMED M. BONDIRIGBUM TAMALE

The vice president John Dramani Mahama has reiterated the government’s commitment to revamping agriculture in the northern sector to offer not only job opportunities to the unemployed youth but also help improve on the socio-economic conditions of the people.
Northern sector which includes, Upper East, Upper West, Northern and part of Brong Ahafo regions is said to be poverty-stricken and lacks basic infrastructure such as good roads, quality education, clean drinking water among other things that could support the development of people’s socio-economic conditions.
The government, he said, was opening northern sector to investment through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the government’s programme established to bridged the development gap between the north and south.
The Vice president reiterated this when he handed over 100 farm tractors and implements to farmers in northern sector to support this year’s farming activities.
The tractors which were imported by the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority and aimed to help realize northern sector agriculture development dream set by the government would benefit about 16, 000 farmers within the SADA operational zone.
The Vice President said the government was doing all that it could to ensure the revamping of northern agriculture which he described as the backbone of Ghana’s economy.
“The development of agriculture in the northern sector is still the most important dream of the government. This tractors we are handing over today is to support the government’s initiatives aimed at improving sustainable agriculture that will ensure food security in the country”, the Vice president said.
He was optimistic that the government’s initiatives including the activities of SADA would turn northern Ghana into an investment destination to deal with poverty, unemployment and youth migration. He however advised farmers to handle the tractors well and adopt regular maintenance culture to ensure high efficiency and effectiveness of the tractors.
The Vice president assured Ghanaians of the government’s support to improving socio-economic wellbeing of the citizenry. He appealed to Ghanaians to co-exist peacefully and support the government to create enabling environment to ensure development and progress of the entire country.
The Board Chairman of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Mr. Alhassan Andani said the tractor distribution is the third largest initiative by SADA aimed to propel agriculture sector in its operational area.
He said that SADA was developing agriculture after it was identified as leading driving force for the country’s economy and that when the sector is well developed, it would not only solved the food insecurity problems facing the country but also would create jobs, and reduce youth migration from the north to south in search for non-existing jobs.
The programme brought together farmers, Ministers of State, MMDCEs, and other stakeholders to witness the handing over ceremony held at the premises of Ghana Cotton Company in Tamale.