Mr. Ishmael Umar, Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), has said that the Programme would now buy foodstuffs directly from Ghanaian farmers.

He explained that this would help to empower farmers and to eliminate middle men, who bought foodstuffs from the farmers at cheaper prices and sold them to the WFP at higher prices.

Mr. Umar announced this when he led a team of WFP workers to pay a courtesy call on the Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana in Wa on Tuesday.

He said WFP would support women to engage in dry season gardening and that a team of technical personnel were carrying out feasibility studies to identify areas suitable for the system of farming.

Mr. Umar said the focus was on the Upper West Region, which is deprived, and asked Alhaji Sulemana to identify areas of need and submit proposals to the WFP for support.

The regional minister thanked the WFP Country Director and his team for focusing on the region, which according to him, was the most recently created the poorest region in the country.

Alhaji Sulemana called for better working relationship between WFP and the people towards the implementation of programmes to alleviate poverty in the region.