The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is now promoting the use of organic fertilizers and adoption of improved technologies to raise crop yields, Mrs. Cecilia Kagya-Agyemang, the Bono East Regional Director of the MoFA has said.
Mrs. Kagya-Agyemang said this when she was speaking at the launch of the national Grow Ghana Initiative by Yara International, a fertilizer production company, held at Techiman in the region on the theme: “Strengthening Last-Mile Distribution of Input for Resilience and Food
Security in Ghana.”
The initiative, being implemented by African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is designed to distribute 360,000 bags of 50-kilogramme Yara Mila fertilizers to farmers free of charge nationwide and about 100,000 small-holders farmers are expected to benefit.
Mrs. Kagya-Agyemang said fertilizer application remained high among farmers in the Bono East because of the decline of soil fertility in the region.
She therefore stated, “the fact that the majority of the people are into crop farming coupled with the decline of soil fertility make fertilizer use a topmost priority for the farmers and anything that affects the availability, accessibility and affordability of fertilizer poses a huge challenge to farming.”
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan, the Bono East Regional Minister said the region was blessed with agriculture and agri-business activities and lauded the project which would help the farmers to improve quality yields.
He said the Regional Coordinating Council would also monitor the project’s implementation and implored other stakeholders to support as well.
Madam Rosen Kimberly, the Mission Director of the USAID said since 2010, the US government had provided more than $425 million to support Ghanaian farmers, particularly those in the northern part of the country to adopt new farming techniques and access global markets.
She expressed the hope that such support would help Ghanaian farmers to produce more and assured the US government’s commitment to help the nation to safeguard its national food security.
