Deputy Local Government Minister Opens 2018 Giz-Moap Quality Management Training Session

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development In-Charge of Rural Economic Development, Hon Collins Ntim. has opened the 2018 GIZ-MOAP quality management training session today at the Ensign Nursing College.

In his opening remarks to the opening of the Session, Hon Collins Ntim began by hinting on the commitment shown by his excellency Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo in about two years in office, to develop every facet of the Ghanaian economy,

Hon Collins Ntim said, in recognizing the indispensability of agriculture to achieve this, the government has rolled out several programs and interventions to address the challenges confronting the Ghanaian farmer, so as to make them more efficient towards increased productivity and eventually prop up the rural economy towards the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda.

He added that, the approach towards the development and management of public agricultural intervention has shifted from mass production to more targeting actions.

In this wise, the Planting for Food and Jobs was rolled out in 2017 targeting the annual crops seeking to achieve food security and increase household income of farmers.

Rearing for food and jobs seeks to develop the livestock subsector whiles the green house project focuses on producing high grade quality vegetables.

Pursuant to the objective of achieving increased agricultural productivity, Government has secured over US$200 million worth of small farm implements to revive the district mechanization centers.

He further stated, the District warehousing Project and the Ghana Commodity Exchange seeks to consolidate the efforts by the Ghanaian farmer by creating an efficient storage system and reliable marketing platform for the sale of their produce.

Hon Collins Ntim integrated that, in addition to the above enumerated interventions, the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) Programme (expected to be launched on April 2019) was rolled to develop the value chains of nine (9) selected tree crops namely Cashew, Coffee, Coconut, Oil Palm, Citrus, Mango, Shea, Cotton and Rubber.

The PERD programme is a decentralized national Tree Crop Intervention jointly implemented by the Ministries of Local Government and Rural Development and Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and a close collaboration with the 1D1F secretariat and the Ghana Export promotions Authority.

The PERD programme implemented through an institutional mechanism the District Center for Agriculture, Commerce and Technology (DCACT) seeks to create a sustainable raw material base to spur up decentralized industrialization towards the One District One Factory Initiative.

Further to the project coordinating role, there is the urgent need for effective data management systems and this underscores the key role of the DCACT serving as a repository of data on government and donor initiatives in all the MMDAs.

Again,The development and management of the PERD Programme is approached as a value chain, towards the achievement of the reinforcement plan, and seeks to formalize each of the commodity 9 value chains through its strategic tripod pillars focusing on efficient onfarm support, business support and reliable regulatory regime.

As an objective to produce sustainable raw materials to meet both domestic and industrial demands, key among the PERD strategies adopted is to supply only certified planting materials to the Ghanaian farmer for free.

Further to that, the role of researchers and research institutions become extremely indispensable.

The PERD programme has therefore constituted a consortium of researchers from both the research institutes and the academia to ensure successful implementation of the program.

Key among their role is to provide technical support towards the Value Chain Reinforcement plan and Initiate biotechnological production of planting materials such as tissue culture, clonal cuttings, enhanced grafting and any other relevant applications.

Hon Ntim explained that, the PERD programme seeks to achieve its objectives through three key implementation strategies – deployment of crop specific extension officers, enhanced private sector and donor collaboration and effective decentralized systems.

Touching on the achievements of the programme in the 2018 pilot year the deputy local government minister said, the results from the pilot year have proven exceedingly successful.

Adding that, approximately 9.3 million certified seedlings of cashew, coffee, coconut and oil palm were supplied at zero cost to 68,000 farmers in 106 districts, cashew extension officers had successfully completed rigorous hands on training on cashew grafting and modern agronomic practices, the Formalization of the Coffee component with the birth of the Coffee Federation of Ghana, resulting in the formalization of 15 coffee businesses in Ghana, and again Cabinets approval of the setup of an omnibus national tree crop development authority for Cashew, Oil Palm, Rubber and Shea.

He maintained that, looking forward into the first year of the upscaled implementation in 2019, the PERD Programme seeks to

supply 22 million certified planting materials of cashew, coffee, coconut and oil palm at no cost to 190,000 farmers in 199 districts.

Hon. Collins Ntim explained that, the programme will see the deployment of over 250,000 youth from the FeedGhana, YEA, NSS, TechGhana and Forestry Commission to support and supervise the nursery development, distribution and ensure materials supplied to the farmers are planted and the Establishment of 130 hectares of coconut seed gardens for private companies, OPRI and CSD-MoFA.

Further Formalize the mango and coconut value chains by end of September 2019,facilitate 5 business linkages unto the Ghana Export Hub Platform, Facilitate 10 district base companies to access the OVCF,

Finalize the establishment of the National Tree Crop Development Authority by end of third Quarter of 2019, Initiate process towards the development of standards for the onfarm and business operations build capacities of 50 Ghanaian businesses on global standards and certifications and Train over 500 farmers on onfarm global requirements.

The Hon Deputy local government added that, pursuant to this, the Government is leveraging on all the relevant public and private Institutions and Development partners such as the GIZ-MOAP to achieve PERD Programme Objectives.

The GIZ-MOAP seeks to develop selected commodity value chains targeting the export market to improve agricultural production in Ghana through a comprehensive supporting package focusing onfarm, business and market linkages for mango, pineapple, citrus and chilli.

“All the above are associated with the PERD Programme. I therefore wish to call for a stronger collaboration between PERD and the GIZ-MOAP especially in the area of mobilization and training of FBOs and businesses, Certification and standardizations, development and implementation of Integrated Business Management and Marketing for both local and export.”

In addition, he requested that MOAP expand their scope to cover more other crops and rope in more districts. This will ensure the wider spread of the MOAP Results.

Hon Collins Ntim concluded by commending GIZMOAP for their immense support to the people of Ghana especially our farmers and implored all participants to participate fully in this training session to sharpen your business skills and also contribute effectively towards the attainment of H.E. the president vision of Ghana Beyond Aid.