Project on sustainable agric & rural devt opens

Accra, May 28, GNA - A three-day inception meeting of a project on Intra-African training and dissemination of technical know-how for sustainable agriculture and rural development within the framework of South-South cooperation was launched in Accra on Monday to help boost agriculture.

The Japanese-funded Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) project would provide training, through a series of workshops, for up to 400 participants, comprising of farmers, agriculturalists, extension workers, and government officials.

A statement issued by Mr. Fouda Onambele, FAO Regional Information Officer in Accra, said one of the larger aims of the project was to address global poverty and hunger through increased agricultural production.

"Proven and successful technologies, which are also adoptable and of interest to participating farmers and other such practitioners, would also be addressed and perhaps adopted at the Inception Meeting," the statement said.

The forum for the meeting is one where participants would discuss, via a participatory process, the issues and needs that are pertinent to their countries socio-economic development and food security needs and priorities.

The statement said 16 countries will be represented from sub-Saharan Africa.

Apart from Plenary and working group sessions, participants would also undertake a field trip to Ashaiman to study a joint Japanese-Ghanaian project.

Cooperation between Japan and Africa and amongst African nations is serving as one of the highlights of the training and dissemination project.

Japanese trained African experts would be imparting their skills to their peers in the areas of small-scale irrigation and water management, aquaculture development, rice cultivation and market access. Following the Accra Inception Meeting, another Inception Meeting is planned for Dakar for the French-Speaking countries plus countries such as Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe.