PRONET-NORTH ends farmplus project in the Upper West Region

Professional-North (PRONET), a local based Non Governmental Organization with support from the European Commission, Care International and OXFAM has closed down the curtains on the Food and Agricultural Recovery Management Program - FARMPLUS.

The project which was implemented in March 2010 in the Nadowli district of the Upper West Region is aimed at addressing food security in the Nadowli district after the 2007 floods that affected many of the communities in the region.

Briefing newsmen on the 20 month project, the Programs Manager of the Livelihood and Sustainability of PRONET-NORTH, Ms Nerissa Bankpiebu said over one thousand eight hundred beneficiaries were targeted especially those in vulnerable communities and households that were affected during the 2007 floods that devastated the Nadowli district.

Ms Nerissa said the purpose of the press briefing is to inform the public about the success of the implementation of the project, challenges during implementation and the way forward for the project. She said the overall objective of the project is to "contribute to the fight against poverty by ensuring access to food for all and increased social protection particularly those affected by food price hikes in northern Ghana".

She said a specific objective for the implementation of the project is to mitigate the negative effects of hikes in food price by improving food security, strengthening government and community social protection measures for the most vulnerable. Ms Nerissa said food security, dry season gardens, storage facilities, dug outs, farm inputs and food for work was introduced in affected communities.

Ms Nerissa said the project achieved a lot for the area. For instance she said four storage structures have been created, four dug outs, one hundred and ninety dry season gardens, 259 animal and pig sites have been put in place with some animals given out which include 45 sheep, 135 pigs, 100 goats, 1100 mango seedlings, 200 mango plantations and 100 orange seedlings.

According to the program manager for livelihood and sustainability of PRONET, the program also introduced advocacy in revamping food security in the district by establishing a community based food security self-monitoring scheme.

The project also lobbied and received extension services, which according to her was a major hindrance to food security. The project is still in the process of engaging duty bearers and it is increasing the capacities of community leaders through training by enhancing the capacity of the district food security network in fund raising.

The food security officer of PRONET, Wahid Yahya hinted that the implementation of the twenty months projects did not go without some challenges. He said poor road network to some communities especially during rainy seasons was a major problem during the implementation process; this is because it was difficult getting members of the food security network together due different schedules for the members.

He said there were also other demands by community members in affected communities which were outside the catchment area of the program. For instance, he said some of the communities were asking for extra services and support such as micro credit facility and the provision of boreholes.

There were also complaints from neighboring communities and individuals who happened not to be direct beneficiaries of the project. He hinted that advocacy issues related to smaller holder farmers failed to be addressed at the district level.

He however said the twenty months project was very successful during and after the implementation period.

Story by Ghana/Rafiq Salam/Joy News