Ghana and UN Food and Agriculture signs $336,000 agreement.

Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May '99

Ghana and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have signed 336,000-dollar project agreement on the Water Component of the Special Programme for food security.

The project covers the period 1999 to 2001, the cost of which is to be borne under the FAO's regular budget as part of its Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP).

Mr John Owusu-Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Mr Bamidele F. Dada, Assistant Director-General of the FAO, signed for Ghana and the United Nations Organisation respectively on Thursday, in Accra.

The agreement was the result of a request Ghana made to FAO and the objective is to enable government "to bring substantial improvement to hitherto food insecure rural households..."

This will be done "through reducing the dependence on food importation mainly of commodities with the advantage of producing locally, creating awareness for the use of water in agriculture and focusing on simple and inexpensive technologies".

Mr Dada who is also FAO Africa Regional Representative, said if Africa is to achieve food security then irrigation should be accorded the support it needs.

Mr Dada said only a total of 10,000 hactares of land have been irrigated and there are a lot of potential to be gained from irrigation.

He said FAO has agreed to Ghana's request to include Chinese experts in FAO Ghana country programmes.

Responding, Mr Owusu-Acheampong said farmers have largely depended on rain-fed agriculture and that the country has plans to increase irrigated land from 10,000 hectares to 100,000 by the year 2020.