A farm supported by the programme
OCP AFRICA, in a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), has increased its efforts at supporting the agricultural value chain in Ghana.
The 2020 Agribooster Campaign which is aligned with government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme, and jointly implemented between OCP Africa and MoFA, has provided improved fertilizers to support farmers across eight regions of Ghana to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on smallholder farmers
Over 100,000 farmers, who have benefitted from these improved fertilizers in the 2020 agribooster campaign, will also receive training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
Country Manager of OCP Africa in Ghana, Samuel Oduro-Asare, noted that it had become necessary now more than ever to support farmers because they were confronted with an adverse effect of Covid-19 on their farming season.
“Covid-19 has affected many areas of our lives and unfortunately, the agricultural sector has not been exempted. Committed as we are for transformation of food systems in Ghana, it is thus imperative that we support our farmers in these difficult times,” he said. “This is why OCP Africa, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), has committed to supplying inputs to farmers through the Agribooster program,” he said.
“Our 2020 Agribooster campaign has officially commenced with the distribution of 21,500 metric tons of improved fertilizers to farmers. Our importer partners namely, Africa Fertilizer Company Limited, Garnoma Agrichemicals, Ltd, Intercontinental Group Ltd and Glofert Ltd, have distributed the fertilizers to farmer aggregators across eight regions of Ghana,” he added.
According to Mr. Oduro, smallholder farmers will also be trained on the proper use of inputs, securing access to finance and market, which will positively impact their productivity and finance to help them over the negative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
OCP Africa is positive that the timely delivery of these products, especially in the northern sectors, will go a long way to assist farmers who are about to apply the fertilizers to their crops in this Covid-19 period.
A business desk report