Improving rural livelihood crucial to Ghana’s growth – Minister
The Minister for the Central Region, Mrs. Ama Benyiwa-Doe, has said that improving rural livelihood was crucial to the economic growth of Ghana since most rural dwellers are farmers.
She asked stakeholders in the agricultural sector to give it the required boost as the country’s economy was basically agrarian with majority of the people, particularly rural folks, engaging in agriculture or agriculture related businesses.
The Minister, who made the call in a speech read on her behalf, at an agriculture stakeholders’ forum on the theme: “Unifying all Stakeholders in Agriculture to Move Agriculture Forward in the Central Region”, in Cape Coast, called for the revamping of the agriculture sector for national development.
The two-day forum organized by the Central Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in collaboration with GiZ implementers of the Market-Oriented Agriculture Programme (MOAP), for development partners in agriculture, was among others to include stakeholders in the planning of agriculture programmes to ensure food security in the Region.
Mrs. Benyiwa-Doe expressed dissatisfaction that the framework for collaboration was not functioning in the Region and stressed the need for effective coordination between all stakeholders to help achieve results.
She called on players in the agriculture sector to effective communication strategy to improve coordination amongst stakeholders.
Professor Adjei Kwarteng, Dean of the University of Cape Coast School of Agriculture, said the Ministry would soon organize a forum for farmers to help them target the international market and ensure food security for the country.
He called on farmers and exporters to improve upon the standards of agriculture products.
The Regional Director of MOFA, Mr. George Badu-Yeboah, pledged that the Ministry would work hard to raise the income levels of the rural people within the next three years.
He called on development partners to support the Ministry to enable it to achieve its desired goal of raising the standard of living of about 80 percent to 90 per cent of farmers in the Region.
Source: GNA