Accra, May 27, GNA - The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Thursday presented five desk top computers valued at 7,700 dollars to five organisations to facilitate the documentation and dissemination of plant genetic resources information.

The beneficiary bodies are New Juaben office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Department of Crop Science, University of Ghana, Legon, Savannah Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Tamale, CSIR Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute and the Environmental Development Youth Movement. Dr Elsaid Yeboah, Assistant FAO Representative in Ghana said the computers were meant to support the National Information Sharing Mechanism (NISM) under the global plan of action. The plan provides the framework for the conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. NISM was established in Ghana in 2003 with funding from Norway under the FAO Multi-Donor Partnership Programme to establish a country-driven network for sharing information in activities related to plant genetic resources.

NISM is also tasked to enhance conservation and use of plant genetic resources for sustainable agriculture development in the Africa region. Dr Yeboah said the sustainable conservation and use of plant genetic resources was important to ensure global food security and contribute towards the realisation of the target set by the World Food Summit to reduce the number of people in extreme poverty by half by 2015. Dr Fernando Salinas, acting FAO Representative in Ghana, presented the items to Mr Dickson K. Gamedoagbao, a representative of the beneficiaries who expressed gratitude to FAO for the donation.