Agric Minister urges Finance Minister to reverse Ghana's withdrawal from food resilience programme

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has appealed to the Ministry of Finance to reconsider Ghana’s decision to withdraw from the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP), warning that the move could jeopardise existing contractual commitments worth GH¢643.87 million.

In a letter to the Finance Minister, MoFA said the decision to notify the World Bank of Ghana’s withdrawal from the programme on September 23 was taken without prior consultation with the Agriculture Ministry.

“The Ministry requests urgent reconsideration of the decision,” the letter signed by Agriculture Minister Eric Opoku stated.

According to MoFA, contracts amounting to GH¢643,867,633.36 have already been entered into under the FSRP for ongoing agricultural infrastructure projects. Of this figure, GH¢520.26 million is linked to the International Development Association (IDA) credit, while GH¢123.61 million comes from the FS2030 Trust Fund.

The ministry cautioned that abandoning the programme without securing alternative financing could leave government responsible for meeting the outstanding commitments from other sources. It said this could lead to implementation delays, increased costs and potential contractual claims.

Among the projects at risk are irrigation rehabilitation works at Weta, Vea, Kpong and selected inland valleys.

The development comes after the World Bank, on September 24, directed an immediate suspension of activities and procurement financed through the IDA credit and Recipient-Executed Trust Funds.

The Bank also ordered a halt to tomato seed distribution and micro-irrigation activities supported through a Norwegian grant.

MoFA said several activities funded under the FS2030 Trust Fund had equally been suspended. These included recruitment for the Feed Ghana Brigade, a Network Operations Centre adviser and a data analyst, as well as further digitisation, farmer registration and support for the Feed Ghana Secretariat.

According to the ministry, the suspension could affect the implementation of the government’s Feed Ghana programme and delay the development of systems needed to register farmers, target interventions and monitor programme delivery.

It further warned that the stoppage of tomato seed and micro-irrigation support could affect agricultural production, particularly if farmers miss critical seasonal planting periods.

“The pause under the IDA credit and Recipient-Executed Trust Funds affects the Ministry’s ability to progress contracted works and planned procurement,” MoFA said.

The ministry is therefore calling on the Finance Ministry to formally withdraw its notice to the World Bank and obtain written clearance for the affected activities to resume.

MoFA has also proposed an urgent reconciliation between the two ministries to determine outstanding contractual commitments, payments due and affected activities before discussions are held with the World Bank on measures to safeguard ongoing projects.

It further called for funding arrangements for the Pwalugu project to be pursued separately in a manner that would not undermine Ghana’s existing commitments under the FSRP or disrupt other agricultural interventions.