MIDA ASSIST FARMERS IN NORTHERN REGION

The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) as part of its Agriculture Transformation Programme component has supported about 24,186 individual farmers and 604 Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Each of the 24,186 individual farmers received has been offered GH¢300.00 cash in the form of grant to engage in what is called “model acre farm projects” in their respective communities as a means of helping them shift from the paradigm of subsistence to commercial farming practices.

These interventions put in place by MiDA also sought to transform the living conditions of inhabitants of under-developed farming communities in the region.

Additionally, MiDA is constructing 110.5 Kilometer stretch of roads in five selected districts alongside the rehabilitation of abandoned irrigation projects like the Bontanga Irrigation and Golinga dams.

This was contained in a speech read for Mr. Martin Eson-Benjamin, CEO of MiDA-Ghana at a sensitization workshop jointly organized by MiDA and the Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organizations in Development in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

He described MiDA’s already rolled out programmes as pro-poor interventions that intend to reduce poverty in rural communities in some selected districts in Ghana through agriculture transformation.

Mr. Eson-Benjamin noted that the only way such interventions could achieve the desired results depended on the atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

He thus implored citizens of the entire region to help MiDA succeed by creating the necessary conditions for those executing the projects to complete on schedule.

The CEO of MiDA announced his outfit’s determination to build an ultra modern Land Title Registration Office in Tamale to register about 500 farmers who would be given land titles to enable them access credit facilities from financial institutions and banks.

Also, he said MiDA would build agricultural business centres and warehouses to create marketing avenues for farmers to maximize their income earnings.

George Ahadzie, Chairman of the Council of Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organizations commended MiDA for complementing the efforts of existing community based organizations to eradicate poverty in the region.