Ghana To Receive $600 million For Food Security

Ghana will receive $600 million from the Group of 8 (G8) for the implementation of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

The new alliance announced by President Obama at the May 18, 2012 G8 Summit at Camp David, is a shared commitment by the G-8 nations, African countries and private sector partners to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years through inclusive government.

A Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Nii Amassah Namoale, said at the launch of the New Alliance in Ghana in Accra Wednesday, that Ghana’s selection alongside the other two African countries was as a result of its impressive economic growth and poverty reduction performance over the years.

He said the New Alliance focused primarily on catalysing private sector investment across African agricultural value chains and build on the G8 commitments made at L’Aquila in Italy.

The Deputy Minister indicated that the Alliance supported the accelerated implementation of existing frameworks including AU/NEPAD’s Comprehensive African Development Plan (CAADP), which was known in Ghana as the Medium Term Agricultural Sector Development Plan (METASIP).

He said since the launch of the $977 million METASIP programme in July 2011 to serve as a framework for pursuing enhanced agricultural performance in Ghana there had been intensified efforts by the government, its development partners and the private sector to deliver on the programmes of the METASIP.

Nii Amassah Namoale asserted that the broad strategy of the METASIP was to manage food production and demand situations and that selected communities had been targeted to attain food security and income diversification, especially of resourced poor farmers.

According him, a selection of major food crops, namely maize, rice, cassava, yam and cowpea that cut across all communities in the country would be given optimum support to attain food security.

He said the new Alliance for Food Security was seen by the government as an opportunity to enhance the focus, level of investment and accelerated implementation of the METASIP.

He said for decades the G8 and other developed countries had engaged with African partners to address the challenges and opportunities in Africa for sustainable growth and development, however, it had been recognised that international assistance alone could not fulfill the shared objectives which were even more pressing now as Africa’s role in expanding the global economy was becoming more important.

“The private sector is, therefore, a significant partner in the tripartite alliance and opportunities for investment by the private sector’s span from farm production to operations along the agricultural value chains including input supply, processing, trading, finance, warehousing and transportation,” he said.