Skip to main content

IFAD bankrolls Ghana Farmers

18th May 2015
Government of the Republic of Ghana and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed a US$36.6 million loan and $10 million grant agreement to finance the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP).
This new programme will link smallholder farmers to agribusinesses to enhance growth by helping them access the assets they need to increase their productivity, competitiveness and incomes. The grant component is intended to promote climate change adaptation under IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme.
With a total cost of $113 million, the programme is cofinanced with a $7.6 million contribution from the Government of Ghana, a $1.7 million contribution from the participating districts, and a $4.6 million contribution from the beneficiaries themselves.
It is expected that this investment will leverage additional private investment of at least $17.5 million of agricultural loans from financial institutions over the initial six years of implementation. An additional $35 million will be sought from IFAD’s country allocation for the period 2016-2018.
The financing agreement was signed today in Rome by Fifi F. Kwetey, Minister of Food and Agriculture of Ghana, and by Michel Mordasini, Vice President of IFAD.
“In partnership with Ghana, we are bringing together climate change resilience with smart marketing approaches to strengthen each part of the value chain, which in turn ensures more profits for small farmers,” Mordasini said. “Programmes such as these create a favourable environment for smallholder farmers, particularly for women and youth, to engage in profitable agriculture businesses.”
Domestic and regional demand for food and cash crops is high, and agribusinesses are interested in working with smallholder farmers. However, there is the need to build and strengthen these business relationships along the value chains.
The programme will initially concentrate on cassava, yam, maize, sorghum, fruits and vegetables; and will leverage investments in productive infrastructure and facilities for the selected value chains. It will promote modern forms of conservation agriculture and agroforestry systems to enhance productivity, climate resilience and environmental sustainability of production systems.
GASIP will be implemented by a dedicated unit in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana and will help 12,000 rural households, particularly women and young people, to improve their economic activities and livelihoods.
Since 1980, IFAD has invested a total of $271.5 million in 17 programmes and projects in Ghana, which have generated a total investment of $780 million, benefiting about 3.5 million rural people.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEFENDING THE DEFENDERS: ZAMZAM DARES DEATH TO FIGHT FOR DARFUR’S FORGOTTEN LIVES

  By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye A Mother Caught in Endless Conflict ZA mZam Mohammed Khater is not just a journalist; she is a relentless warrior against the shadows of war that have plagued Darfur for over two decades. At 38, she is a single mother of two—a 14-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter—trapped in a land where fear dictates every sunrise and sorrow lingers in the air like an unshakable curse. Zamzam inspects one of the homes burnt down in 2019  She has seen the unspeakable. Massacres that leave villages lifeless, women brutalized beyond recognition, children reduced to silent witnesses of carnage. She has fled through the darkness, gripping her children’s hands as gunfire echoed behind them, the night air thick with terror. And yet, through it all, she dares to dream. " I dream of a Sudan where my children wake up to the sound of birds, not bombs. Where a mother can send her daughter to school without fearing she may never return." — ZamZam, her voice trem...
Post a Comment
Read more

DEFENDING THE DEFENDERS:YVONNE MOKA'S CHILLING EXPERIENCE WHILE REPORTING VAWG

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye  Yvonne Moka never imagined that reporting on femicide and violence against women and girls (VAWG) would mean reliving her own nightmares. Each story she tells is not just a battle for justice but also a fight for her own sanity. In a chilling interview, she reveals the haunting weight of being both a journalist and a survivor. Yvonne Moka’s Fight for Justice Begins with a Tear-Stained Story Yvonne Moka, a passionate social justice journalist from Botswana, never anticipated that her first major social justice story would be the one that shattered her heart. "My home girl, we grew up together. We shared everything—church, music, village life. She was like my sister. When I left for university, she stayed behind. Over time, she began dating a gangster from the village, and I was not pleased," Moka recalls. "But she made her choices. Then, one fateful day, I received a call from her neighbor: ‘She’s dead. The boyfriend has killed her.’"...
Post a Comment
Read more

DEFENDING THE DEFENDERS: TURNING THE MICROPHONE TO FEMALE JOURNALISTS REPORTING VAWG

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye  Female journalists covering violence against women and girls are not just exposing injustice—they are risking their own safety. The very violence they report on is the same violence that threatens them. According to the United Nations, 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed in 2023, with 51,100 murdered by an intimate partner or family member. This translates to 140 women and girls killed daily—one every ten minutes. Additionally, 736 million women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, with 30% of women aged 15 and older reporting such experiences. Beyond physical violence, female journalists frequently face sexual harassment, cyber threats, and targeted attacks. A 2022 UNESCO report revealed that 73% of women journalists globally have experienced online violence, with 20% facing real-world attacks linked to their work. These threats not only compromise their safety but also have severe psycho...
Post a Comment
Read more