Bolgatanga, June 15, GNA - Mr. Jonathan Adabre, the Upper East Regional Manager of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), has appealed to the government to commit resources to bridge the development gap between the north and the south.

He said this at a Budget Forum under the theme "2010 Budget Statement, Citizens call for Government's Commitment" held in Bolgatanga on Monday.

The forum was organized by the Northern Patriot in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) a civil society organization championing the cause of the marginalized, was aimed at creating a common platform to discuss and also be informed of government interventions for its people and to ensure regional development.

Mr Adabre said the government was doing well in modernizing agriculture, providing large scale public private commercial farming that could change the face of rural Ghana and poverty reduction but that the three northern regions were not getting their fair share of resources. He said the 2010 budget for instance stated that government would support selected poultry and livestock farmers including the youth with chicks and small ruminants.

Mr. Adabre said guinea fowl farmers were supposed to be supported with incubators to expand production in the three northern regions and there was to be a nationwide campaign to vaccinate local poultry, small ruminants and dairy cattle against diseases.

Mr. Adabre said attention had not been given to the renovation and expansion of the Vea Irrigation project which serve as major source of drinking water to the people in Bolgatanga and could be a good source of livelihood to the people in Upper East Region. He said the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority which was to provide 200 million cedis as seed money but it had become fruitless as only 25 million cedis had been taken from the Multilateral Debt Relief (MDRI) as seed money.

Mr Adabre said under SADA there was no clarity on issues such as the role of local businesses and women's groups adding that the intention of the Government to resort to donor funding for SADA was not best. He said there should be an internally generated fund to support the implementation of SADA instead of relying on donor funding. Mr Adabre said it was clear that the north was about 150 years behind the rest of the country in terms of development and there was the need for strong political and resource commitment to address the yarning gap. 15 June 10