Poverty in the North could be reduced through agriculture

Bolgatanga, Sept. 26, GNA - The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo on Friday said that poverty ravaging the three northern regions could be significantly reduced if agriculture, the main source of livelihood of the people received the needed boost. He said government has recognized this and was working out a wide-range of practical action plans under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to revamp some major agricultural related industries and establish key industries that would be relevant to the needs of the people in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions. Mr. Woyongo made the observation when a Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Joseph Kwesi Boamah paid a courtesy call on him at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) office in Bolgatanga.

The Regional Minister said government had planned to revamp the cotton ginneries in Tamale and Pusunamogo in the Upper East Region, the Star Tomato factory at Pwalugu in the Upper East Region and set up oil processing factory and a rice mill.

He called for measures to prevent the north-south migration of people in search of greener postures and said conducive environment for investment in the North should be created.

Mr. Woyongo said that SADA would push agriculture to its peak within two years of implementation in northern Ghana. He urged district assemblies in the North to buy food stuff after harvest for storage and sell it to the public during the lean season.

Mr. Woyongo said such a measure would prevent traders from neighbouring Burkina Faso from buying large quantities of food stuff at low prices during harvesting periods, pushing prices of food stuff in the supply areas high. The Minister expressed worry about the award of contracts by the International Development Agency (IDA) and suggested that contracts from IDA should be decentralized to make supervision more effective and to ensure good quality work.

He said because awards of contracts especially for dams were done without the Regional Coordinating Council's involvement, contractors did shoddy work and dams had their banks collapsed after down pour. Mr Boamah asked RCC in the three northern regions to support agriculture development and the construction of roads, schools and markets.

He called for a review of the subsidized fertilizer distribution programme for farmers. Mr Boamah said ironically while the programme aimed at bringing relief to farmers, some people were "making huge sums of illegitimate monies out of it". He called on farmers not to concentrate on food crop production but to engage in animal husbandry to serves as a "backup" source of income for them. 26 Sept 09