Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
THE MINISTER of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, yesterday commissioned 2,432 farming equipment for sale to farmers in the country at subsidised prices.
The farm machines, procured through a financial arrangement between Government of Ghana and the Brazilian government, were the last consignment of a US$96 million loan facility procured to support government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme.
Dr. Akoto, commissioning the equipment at the Agricultural Engineering Services Directorate near Elwak Stadium in Accra yesterday, said the third tranche of the facility, worth US$30 million, was used to procure the machineries to augment Ghana’s food programme agenda, and enable farmers go into large scale production.
“What you see here is the last tranche of the third tranche of the facility worth US$30 million. The composition of the machinery, this time round, is slightly different; there is more emphasis on post harvest, harvest and value addition,” the minister stressed.
The equipment include heavy duty combine harvesters, high horse power tractors, chemical applicator, tractor-attached implements and tractor-mounted sowing equipment, trailers and power tillers, among others.
According to the minister, the procurement of the equipment was based on the needs assessment of farmers and the challenges facing them in their quest to acquire farm implements, which are now expensive to purchase.
He stated that anyone who wanted to acquire the equipment would have no difficulty after making a down payment of 60 per cent.
“It’s a very open system of application. The Government of Ghana has already advertised and encouraged farm applications on the farms to give 40 per cent discount, so for instance, if this machinery costs US$100, it says sell it to farmers at US$60. It shows how generous this government has been to agriculture,” the minister explained.
The minister mentioned that apart from the direct benefit to farmers, the machineries would also support agricultural mechanisation centres which were established by the Kufuor administration but had challenges and have been revamped through the District Assemblies, farmer groups and commercial farms.
Countries such as Niger, Mali, and Nigeria resorted to Ghana to pick the surpluses as a result of the Planting for Food and Jobs,” he noted.
Dr. Akoto said other machines that were expected to be evacuated from the port also include gari processing machines and plantain chips making machines, among others.
He indicated that Ghana is expecting about US$150 million Exim Bank facility by the end of this year for more machinery “to help add value to Ghanaian surpluses, create more jobs, wealth and transformation for Ghana’s economy.”
The 2021 National Best Farmer and the Greater Accra Regional Best Farmer were among some of the beneficiaries of the machines from the Ministry of Agriculture.
BY Ebenezer K. Amponsah