The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) through the “Capacity Development of Farmer-based Cooperatives and Organization (FBCs/FBOs) in Northern Ghana Project” has presented warehouses to two Farmer Cooperatives in the Yendi Municipality.
This forms part of the Pilot Project Component of the KOICA FBCs/FBOs Project.
The warehouses were provided to address problems associated with inadequate storage and post-harvest losses confronting Farmers in the Municipality.
The awarded Cooperatives were the Yendi Taganoba Tibiganso Co-operative Farmers and Marketing Union Limited Taganoba with over one thousand small-holder farmers and the Zang Mangbanyini Viella Co-operative Food Farming and Marketing Society Limited which has 45 members.
The Pilot Project component provides grant funds to support viable business proposals of FBCs/FBOs.
The opportunity to benefit from this fund was opened to all 210 beneficiary Farmer cooperatives who had received training in several strategic areas including preparation of Action Plans and proposal writing.
A researcher who spoke on behalf of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, Dr. Park Yeo Weon, said all applicants were required to submit proposals on business ideas with potentials to transform the businesses and fortunes of their respective cooperative societies and communities in the long term.
”Successful applicants were required to provide a minimum of 10% of the value of the proposed asset as counterpart funds to demonstrate their commitment and instill a sense of ownership among members. “
She said a total of 29 pilot projects worth over $300,000 have been awarded to 41 Farmer-based cooperatives and organizations in 21 districts across the 5 northern regions of Ghana since the commencement of the KOICA FBCs/FBOs in 2017.
“Awards won include 8 warehouses, tractors, MK motor king tricycles, several farm machinery, cottage industries and shea butter processing centers. “
Dr. Weon indicated that the Korea International Cooperation Agency through its local Implementing Partner, the Association of Church-based Development Project (ACDEP) has been in the forefront of supporting activities of Farmer Cooperatives groups in Northern Ghana through the “Capacity Development of Farmer-Based Cooperatives and Farmer-Based Organizations (FBCs/ FBOs) Project”.
“Evidence from other countries reveals that Cooperatives, when given the needed support could be pivotal to the development of the national economy through job creation, industrialization and community development. It is in this light that the KOICA is partnering the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Department of Cooperatives with a grant aid of 6,180,000 U.S. dollars to strengthen and reposition farmer cooperatives as a conduit for sustainable agriculture, food security and economic transformation. “
The Project comprises six major components which are ;Cooperative Policy Advisory, Training of Trainers (TOT), Training of FBC/FBO leaders (TOL), Overseas Invitational Training in Korea, Networking and Marketing Support and the Pilot Projects.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Yendi Alhaji Hammed Abubakar Yussif, who was the special guest of honour at the event thanked KOICA for the gesture adding that it was in line with government’s one district one warehouse policy.
He admonished the award winners to ensure that other farmer cooperative groups and even smallholder farmers within the municipality benefited from the use of the warehouse and urged the need for the groups to remains united and even grow beyond their current membership.
The MCE appealed to KOICA to extend the project which is scheduled to end in March, 2021 for another 4 years because of the immeasurable assistance it was offering to the region in the area of Farmer Cooperative development and food security.
Mr. Cornelius Kuukaraa, the Team Leader for the Local Implementing Partner, ACDEP noted that twelve Farmer Cooperatives in the Yendi Municipal had benefitted directly from the KOICA FBCs/FBOs project with three of them winning warehouses under the Pilot Project and TOL AP components of the Project.
He called on the beneficiaries to be good stewards of the assets in order to ensure their longevity.
FROM Eric Kombat,Yendi