More farmers to benefit from SIF's Rural Integrated Programme

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Cape Coast, May 3, GNA - Over 4,000 farmers, from 21 districts across the country are expected to benefit from the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) being rolled out by the Social Investment Fund (SIF).

The US$19.1 million project is aimed at increasing the socio-economic infrastructure and household income through enhanced farming and marketing within the agricultural value chain in the beneficiary districts.

It is jointly funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and would be disbursed through rural and community banks.

Mr MacDonald Acquah, an institutional development specialist at SIF, said the initiative would drastically reduce poverty in the beneficiary districts when fully completed in 2017.

He was speaking at a three-day capacity building workshop for agriculture extension officers; district and regional officers of the department of cooperatives and partner financial institutions from four beneficiary districts from Western and Central Regions in Cape Coast.

The workshop was to build the capacity of the agricultural extension officers as well as officers of the Department of cooperatives such that they could provide adequate training and extension services to beneficiary farmers and farmer based organizations in the participating districts.

Participants were taken through topics such as agribusiness and farm management, post-harvest management, agricultural value chain financing and the safe use of agro chemicals.

Mr Acquah said the project would increase the output of small and medium scale agricultural producers through the provision of credit, technology and access to social services and provide farmers with a more reliable ready market for their produce.

'The project contained five closely-knitted components and embraced four categories of expenditure in the area of goods, works, services and operating cost', he said.

Mr Acquah said the components include an outreach and sensitization; provision of basic socio-economic infrastructure, provision of micro, small and medium-term credit, training and technical support, and project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

Mr Ernest Agbenohevi, a management and leadership consultant, and the main facilitator for the workshop, said there is the need for agricultural extension officers to be given the needed training to enable them to change the life of farmers.

Dr Peter Omega, Regional Agricultural Extention Officer, who spoke on behalf of the Central Regional Director of Agriculture, commended SIF and its funding partners for the timely intervention as many Ghanaian farmers did not have the needed funds to expand their farms.

He urged the beneficiary farmers to take advantage of the initiative to improve upon their production levels.

GNA