By Kodjo Adams, GNA
Accra, Aug 21, GNA – The Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Wednesday donated agricultural equipment to
the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to enhance agricultural development
in the country.
The items are laboratory coats, seed trays,
personal protective equipment, digital grain moisture analyzer, tarpaulins,
weighing scale and sampling bags.
The rest are digital camera and educational
materials, flyer on signs and symptoms of Fall Army Worm (FAW) and poster on
signs and symptoms of FAW.
The items are to support seed testing under
the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ (PFJ) while the educational books are to help
in the management and control of FAW.
Dr Abebe Haile-Gabriel, the Assistant
Director General and FAO Representative for Africa, who presented the items,
commended government for prioritizing the development and transformation of
agriculture in the country.
He said to improve the seed sector, there
was the need to ensure that seeds produced met the minimum quality standards
before it went into the hands of farmers for further cultivation.
This, Dr Haile-Gabriel said, should be
backed by regular field inspections of seed producers and laboratory analysis
to test the quality.
He said government’s agricultural policies
like PFJ had resulted in bumper harvest and some foodstuffs such as maize,
sorghum and cowpea exported to neighbouring countries.
“FAO has supported in providing
technical assistance to the Ministry, help government’s PFJ initiative in
building institutional capacity within the seed sector, value addition to farm
produce and marketing and promoting e-agriculture,” he added.
Dr Haile-Gabriel was confident that the PFJ
initiative would promote sustainable food production and job creation in
empowering livelihoods and safeguarding food and nutritional security.
He stated that Ghana was among few countries
that had prioritized agriculture which yielded practical outcomes, adding that
the African Continental Free Trade Area would help facilitate trade in the
region.
He called for the need to build a business
model based on viable agricultural chain for sustained development in the
sector.
Dr Gyeile Nurah, the Minister of State
in-charge of Agriculture, who received the equipment thanked FAO for the
initiative to help develop agriculture in the country.
He said government realized that only 11 per
cent of farmers use quality seed, hence the need to intensify campaign on
quality seed to increase production.
He said the equipment would help the
Ministry to produce more quality seeds and fight the menace of FAW.
Dr Felicia Ansah-Amprofi, Director, Plant
Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate, MOFA, pledged to use the
equipment for its intended purposes.
GNA
