USAID lauds Ghana on agric policy formulation

Mr Walter Nunez-Rodriguez, USAID Chief of Party has lauded Ghana for being one of the countries that has accomplished great results in terms of agriculture on the African continent through good policy formulation.

He said the engagement, identification and coordination of the schemes which Ghana had established were among the best on the continent.

“We are blessed to be working in a country where this policy process has been advanced, and has accomplished so many results; that makes our job even easier, but we are here because there are gaps to be filled,” Mr Nunez-Rodriguez stated this on Wednesday in Accra at a training programme on Ghana’s agriculture policy documents.

The workshop which was attended by about 50 non-state actors, especially farmers, civil society organisations and the private sector agribusiness attended the training programme; was organised by USAID/Ghana Feed the Future Agriculture Policy Support Project (APSP).

Mr Nunez-Rodriguez said the objective of the workshop was to instruct and to properly inform participants on the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy, Medium-Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan and other Ghana Government development planning frameworks.

He said the programme would equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills for the non-state actors to have meaningful participation in the agriculture policy dialogue, policy formulation and implementation process by increasing their knowledge on critical Ghana Government sectorial development planning.

The Chief of Party observed that the agenda of both farmers and the government was USAID’s agenda.

Mr Thomas Havor, General Secretary, Seed Producers Association of Ghana, a participant at the workshop on behalf of his colleagues commended the US for organising the workshop on the theme.

APSP is a five-year activity whose goal is to improve food security enabling environment for the private sector investment in agriculture.

In collaboration with other development partners and Feed the Future projects in the country, APSP would support the policy agenda of the government, especially, the implementation of the Medium-Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan.

APSP would work to increase policy research capacity of policy-makers in Ghana, private sector capacity for advocacy, the public/private dialogue around policies conducive to private sector access to seed, fertilizer and other agricultural inputs.