Alhaji Hardi Tufeiru, addressing participants at the Tamale Hall Meeting
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), says the government has commenced the distribution of fertilizers and seedlings to support farmers who are affected by the dry spell across the country.
Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Hardi Tufeiru, addressing participants at the Tamale town hall meeting organised by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Council, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture said 118,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer and 5,133 metric tonnes of seeds will be distributed to about 800 small holder farmers affected by the dry spell across the country.
“We have this morning commenced the distribution of 118,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer and 5,133 metric tonnes of seeds to 800 small holder farmers nationwide,” he said.
The Deputy Minister for Agriculture indicated that the beneficiary farmers fall under farmers with two acres and more and commercial farmers.
He noted that the beneficiary farmers will receive two bags of NPK fertilizer and one bag of Urea and either maize or rice depending on what they cultivate.
Alhaji Tufeiru, again disclosed that 20,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer will be distributed to commercial farmers nationwide.
“Each commercial farmer will receive up to 50 bags of NPK and 25 bags of Urea,” he said.
The Deputy Agric Minister, said the Ministry has secured and set aside GH¢50 million that will cover interest on loans for commercial farmers.
He said the ministry is setting up an online platform to enable the public access maize and rice at affordable prices.
He hinted that the ministry has deployed 2,700 agriculture extension agents and 260 district agric officers and equipped them with tablets to register an average of 12 farmers per day for 60 days to ensure that no farmer is left behind.
Farmers were hit with drought especially in the Northern part of Ghana some months ago which generated discussions about looming food crisis.
CSOs and other organisations called on the government to intervene to support the affected farmers to mitigate their losses.
The Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu, noted that a total of 460,784 hectares of farm land were affected by the drought adding that he was excited that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is set to provide food aid and farm inputs to farmers.
He stated that Savelugu, Tamale, Gushegu, Yendi, Bimbilla and Kpandai, have been identified for the distribution of the free food aid and inputs.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale