ACDEP completes agric project for rural farmers

The Association of Church-based Development NGOs in Northern Ghana (ACDEP), has ended its Farmers Production and Marketing Project (FAMAR) aimed at assisting rural farmers to increase agricultural productivity and marketing of their produce.

ACDEP said the FAMAR project implemented from 2004 to 2012 had achieved its overall objective of creating an independent limited liability company-Savannah Farmers’ Marketing Company (SFMC) to market the produce of farmers to prevent post harvest losses.

SFMC is also aimed at creating a sustainable, self-financing and mutually beneficial linkage between farmers and rural or commercial banks.

ACDEP, which is a network of more than 40 agricultural, health and rural development NGOs, partnered with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to implement the FAMAR project with support from the European Union and the Inter-Church Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO).

Mr Malex Alebikiya, Executive Director of ACDEP, who addressed the project close-up workshop in Tamale, said the farmers comprising 15,000 households in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions have been adequately equipped to operate independently and to maximise productivity and income.

Mr Alebikiya said the FAMAR project had led to a rise in productivity by more than 61 per cent against a target of 33 per cent, acreage cultivated.

Beneficiary farmers topped 200 per cent credit provided by rural banks, which increased from GH¢57,251 in 2007 to GH¢1.4 million in 2012.

He said: “The project has left enviable landmarks – pioneering work in the agricultural value chains -soya, sorghum, maize facilitation in northern Ghana, the establishment of SFMC as a major aggregator, credibility between farmers and rural banks, which demystifies the assertion that farmers are too unreliable for banks to finance.”

Mr A.B.A Fuseini, the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, called for more investment in agriculture to make the country food secure.

He said government’s policy is to accelerate agricultural production through partnership.

Mr Fuseini gave the assurance that government would continue to provide equipment and logistical support to modernise the agriculture industry.

He commended ACDEP and its partners for effectively executing the project.

Source: GNA