Increase investment in mechanisation centres to provide support for smallholder farmers

Mr Wepia Addo Awal Adugwala, National President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has called on the government to increase investment in mechanisation centres to provide support and technology access for smallholder farmers across the country.He said mechanisation enabled smallholder farmers to have access to technology to expand their production and improve their livelihoods and food security.The National President of PFAG was speaking at the Non-State Actors Consultation on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Post-Malabo Agenda in Accra.The CAADP is Africa's policy framework for agriculture transformation, wealth creation, food security, nutrition, economic growth and prosperity, which aims at reducing levels of poverty, ending hunger on the continent and promoting food security and economic development.'it also reduces post-harvest losses and preserves more produce for the market,' he added.Mr Adugwala said by embracing mechanisation, Ghana could t ransform its agriculture sector and drive economic growth with food security as a top priority.He said stakeholders needed to prioritise sustainable farming, empower farmers, invest in infrastructure and create access to markets and technology, unlocking the full potential of agriculture and creating a prosperous future.The National President urged African countries to allocate resources for the radical transformation of the agriculture sector to create jobs and wealth for the teaming youth.He said for Ghana to achieve some of the objectives of CAADP, it must invest in irrigation infrastructure such as the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the North East region to provide water to over 15,000 smallholder farmers for all year-round farming.Mr Adugwala urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to deploy more national service personnel to assist the extension officers in carrying out the exercise to build a comprehensive database for the farmers, a requirement to benefit from the Pl anting for Food and Jobs 2.0 programme input credit system.'This is very crucial because the farmers are waiting for the farm inputs considering the fact that the rainy season has started and farmers can no longer wait for the delayed registration to be completed,' he added.He said the government had promised to support onion farmers and dealers to produce more onions in Ghana to make the country self-sufficient.He added that these farmers had not received any form of support from the government to produce the onion, making Ghana still relying on Niger and Nigeria for the supply of onion.Six million trees were supposed to be planted in forest reserves across the country on Friday, June 7, 2024, as part of Green Ghana Day.'If this project succeeds, there is no doubt that it will conserve the environment and help to mitigate the effects of climate change in Ghana,' he added.He said the project was being threatened by the activities of illegal miners, popularly called Galamsey and the activities of i llegal chain saw operators in forest reserves, hence the government must sit up on the fight against Galamsey to save our lands and forest reserves.Mr Charles Ayueboro Adana, a Representative from MOFA, said the Ministry in collaboration with the stakeholders implemented various programmes and projects in the past two decades.He said the Ministry committed to implementing certain agreed actions in the first 10 years under the Maputo declaration, renewing efforts and recommitting to certain objectives.'Registration of farmers is ongoing, we are making efforts to improve upon that, so we welcome feedback that will help in that regard,' he added.Source: Ghana News Agency