Five districts in the Upper East Region have been selected as beneficiaries of the government’s Farmer Service Centres initiative, a major intervention aimed at transforming agricultural production and improving food security across the country.
The beneficiary districts are Builsa South, Bongo, Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Garu-Tempane and Talensi.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Donatus Atanga Akamugri, announced this during the regional celebration of the 41st National Farmers’ Day held at Winkogo in the Talensi District.
The Farmer Service Centre initiative, being rolled out under the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda, targets 50 selected districts nationwide and will provide 4,400 pieces of modern agricultural machinery to support farmers.
The equipment, comprising tractors and accessories, combined harvesters, fertiliser spreaders, sprayers and seed drills, aims to significantly enhance productivity along the agricultural value chain.
Mr Akamugri said the selection of the five districts placed the Upper East Region at the centre of the national drive to modernise agriculture, which had the potential to produce enough food to feed the entire country.
He added that the initiative aligned with the government’s priority to scale up food production, reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen the domestic economy through improved mechanisation.
Highlighting additional support for farmers in the region, the Minister revealed that 8,223 farmers had been registered on the Ghana Agricultural Aggregation Platform to receive input assistance for dry-season farming.
He also disclosed that more than 31,000 bags of fertiliser had been received in the region and distributed to farmers to sustain production throughout the year.
“To further boost irrigation farming, the region has also benefited from 100 water pumps, repurposed from illegal mining sites and redistributed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture”, he added.
Mr Akamugri noted that these interventions, coupled with the government’s allocations for agricultural enclave roads and livestock development programmes, demonstrated a clear commitment to making agriculture more commercial, modern and youth-driven.
He commended farmers for their resilience and contribution to national development, urging the public to support local production by consuming Ghana-grown foods to sustain the agricultural sector.
The Member of Parliament for the Talensi Constituency, Daniel Dung Mahama, stressed the role of the local farmers in food security and called for support to strengthen opportunities for youth in the sector.
The Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture, Zakaria Fuseini, called for behavioural change for Ghanaians to consume locally produced food to enhance the productivity and economic resilience of the local farmers.
This year’s celebration, themed “Feed Ghana, Eat Ghana, Secure the Future”, brought together farmers, traditional leaders, agricultural stakeholders and residents to honour farmers’ role in powering the country’s development.