SNV, NORDESO Best Farmer Honoured At 2015 Farmers Day Celebration

One of a thousand smallholder rice farmers trained by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the Northern Development Society (NORDESO) Iddrisu Ziblim has been honoured at the 2015 edition of Farmers Day Celebration held at Pong-Tamale in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality.

Mr. Ziblim was honoured for his hard work, discipline and ability to adapt to the new farming technology introduced to him and several other rice farmers known as Systems Rice Intensification (SRI). “All the criteria and benchmark set for all the farmers were meticulously fulfilled by only Ziblim, hence our decision to honour him on this special day”, Mr. Jacob Mansu, Local Capacity Builder (LCB) with NORDESO told Savannahnews.

SNV in partnership with NORDESO has since the beginning of 2015 farming season, started the implementation of an agric project dubbed: “Local Rice Farmers Can Feed West Africa” in the Savelugu- Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region of Ghana.

The project sought to support and empower 1000 rice farmers to increase their yields  through  good agronomic practices, have access to market, agro-inputs linkages and services, good rice mills as well as learn from demonstration fields and seed support. 

Also, cardinal among the set objectives was to equip 300 processors with modern technologies in rice processing, and unlock their potentials in maintaining the value chain in rice production.

All beneficiary farmers have so far been trained in improved rice production management technologies including bonding, rouging, soil aeration and among others. Farmers have also been trained on how to apply fertilizer as well as weed, insect, pest and disease management to help boost rice production.

“So far, LCB has completed the aggregation of farmers and facilitated the necessary linkages in the area of land preparation, input services and extension delivery on best rice production practices in 21 communities comprising of 43 farmer based organisations in the municipality” Mr. Mansu explained.

Mr Ziblim (R) Receiving a Certificate of Recognition From The Savelugu MCE

For his prize, Mr. Ziblim took home assorted farming equipments including a rice thresher, watering can, knapsack sprayer, wellington boots, tarpaulin, four machetes, a hoe, bag of fertiliser and a certificate.

The National Farmers Day is commemorated each year on the first Friday of December to honour our gallant Farmers and Fishers. The event acknowledges the vital position Farmers and Fishers occupy in the nations socio-economic development.

In particular, Ghana acknowledges farmers and fishers untiring efforts at feeding our growing population, providing raw materials to the nation’s industries, and contributing substantially to the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. 

The programme of activities usually planned for the celebration include, a National Farmers Forum at which the Award Winners are expected to interact with policy makers and experts on some technological advances in the agricultural sector and also make their views known. Prizes are awarded to deserving farmers and fishers in order of best practices and outputs.

Meanwhile, a total of 20 farmers were awarded and they took home different packages of prizes containing bicycle, knapsack sprayer, fertilisers, wellington boots, GTP fabrics among others. 

The Regional Best Farmer award was went to Alhaji Hussein Nuhib Khama who took home a motor king tricycle, water pumping machine, generator, sewing machine, corn sheller, knapsack sprayer, machetes, bags of fertiliser, wellington boots and a certificate. 

Survey Reveals MoFA, SADA Not Giving Enough Support To Women Farmers

Women smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana have been discriminated against through the implementation of separate Agric Inputs Support Programmes (AISPs) implemented by MoFA and SADA, a new survey conducted by NORTHCODE has revealed.

The survey observed that AISPs implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) saw more men (75%) benefiting more than women (25%).

According to leader of the survey team, Godwin Bansah, Technical Service Providers (TSPs) implemented SADA’s AISP by facilitating the provision of agric inputs such as tractor service, seeds and fertilizers to the farmers whereas inputs dealers supplied subsidised fertiliser to farmers on behalf of MoFA.

He observed that the profit-making motive of the AISPs in MoFA and SADA as well as the risk of women defaulting in payment was partly to blame for the low number of women farmers being beneficiaries of the two programmes. 

Mr. Bansah explained that, quantities of inputs provided to farmers depended on size of acreage of land cultivated, and SADA support was also based exclusively on a farmer’s ability to pay back, rather than any other considerations since the facility was a loan and not a grant. “Thus, fewer women farmers than men farmers benefitted from SADA’s AISP. Besides, of the 73 TSPs, less than 10 are female owned or managed”, he pointed out.

NORTHCODE is a Coalition for the Development of Western Corridor of Northern Region. It consists of Centre for Women Opportunities (CENWOPP) in Damongo, Kachito Community Development Centre (KCODEC) in Buipe, Tuna Women Development Programme (TUWODEP) in Tuna and Partners in Participatory Development (PAPADEV) in Bole.

According to Coordinator of NORTHCODE and Executive Director of CENWOPP Cletus Zume, the coalition exists to harness strengths, abilities, capacities and energies to support various communities to access the basic necessities of life such as good healthcare delivery, education, economic empowerment of women and also protecting the natural environment.

 

The survey, he noted, was conducted under NORTHCODE’s Inclusive Governance Programme dubbed: “Tracking Support for Women under SADA & MoFA Investments: Evidence from the NSEZ”.

The objective of the research was to assess the allocation of resources such as tractor ploughing services, seeds and fertilizers to women under both the AISPs of MoFA and SADA; assess gender parity among beneficiary groups in SADA and MoFA’s investments; Assess extent of gender sensitivity and mainstreaming in SADA and MoFA programme planning and implementation; and provide recommendations for policy reforms.

The survey was conducted in 20 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the NSEZ to complement the desk study. Face-to-face interviews and questionnaires were also sent to 15 District Directors of MoFA and MoFA input dealers as well as SADA officials and TSPs.

Responding to the report, SADA Coordinator for Agriculture, Abass Karim Nyo confirmed aspects of the survey, but pointed out that SADA initially set out to support smallholder farmers irrespective of whether farmers were able to pay back support given to them or not. 

He explained that, because SADA did not have staff to directly implement the AISP, a decision was taken to recruit TSPs to implement the programme on behalf SADA. “The TSPs fearing that they might not be able to recover targets set for them by SADA, decided to target only farmers who could pay back support given to them. This is what affected the programme”, he explained.

A representative of MoFA Mr. Benjamin Acheampong also stated that, MoFA’s AISP was only targeting farmers who had the money to buy. “The target was not poor farmers but those who could buy with ready cash”, he pointed out, stressing that “NORTHCODE should do advocacy on behalf of poor and vulnerable farmers so that such inputs can be given freely to them”. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Bansah urged SADA’s management to consider either running a dual model under the AISP– a purely business model complemented by a food security model. “Under the purely business model, TSPs should be given the opportunity to support any commercial farmer who has the ability to repay while the food security model is geared towards enhancing the food security of the poor, particularly vulnerable women”, he stressed. 

He also suggested that the current practice where the TSPs are left exclusively to determine who could access agriculture inputs and support under the AISP should be stopped. Instead, SADA he noted, should include in the proposed AISP business model, a condition that compels TSPs to support a certain number of women under the programme. “SADA should insist and ensure that all the TSPs have a fixed percentage of women as beneficiaries and this must be a precondition for their continuous existence as TSPs to SADA”, he said.

Mr. Bansah further called on MoFA to consider repackaging their mineral fertilisers into 5kg and 10kg mini bags to address the current problem where women do not have enough resources to buy the 50kg mineral fertilisers. “This would ensure that a lot more women, than now, are able to afford fertilizers for their farms”, he indicated, adding that “Government should also endeavour to make available the mineral fertilizers on time so they become useful to farmers instead of the current situation where subsidized fertilizers are almost only available in the middle of the cropping season. This does not do the farmers much good”, he opined.

1,000 New Cases Of Mental Illness Recorded In Northern Region

Mr. John Abdulai Ibrahim

An estimated one thousand (1000) new cases of mental illness have been recorded in the Northern Region of Ghana since January up till date, Regional Psychiatric Coordinator John Abdulai Ibrahim has revealed.

The development, he observed, could further compound the mounting problems of the Psychiatric Unit in the region, citing inadequate number of psychiatric nurses, community psychiatric nurses, physiatrists, lack of motorbikes, fuel and insufficient medications for the old and newly identified patients. 

Mr. Ibrahim revealed this to Savannahnews in an interview after he made a statement to commemorate World Mental Health Day organised by Gub-Katimali Society (GKS) and BasicNeeds-Ghana at the Sagnarigu District in the Northern Region recently.  

World Mental Health Day is commemorated on October 10 every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health. The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.

 

The 2015 World Mental Health Day was marked on the theme: “Dignity In Mental Health”. The commemoration of the Day brought together various stakeholders including health personnel, social and development workers, National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mental Health Alliance, Traditional Authorities, Persons With Mental Illness and Epilepsy (PWMIE) and their caregivers.

Some of the common medications often prescribed for PWMIE are phenobarbitine, fluphenazine decanoate, olanzipine, haloperidol, cabarmazipine and among others. But sadly, Mr. Ibrahim said the Psychiatric Unit has run out of stock on some of the medications. “This could cause a lot of our clients who have recovered or stabilised to relapse”, he stated. 

There are currently about 700 psychiatric nurses and 210 community psychiatric nurses at post across the country when in actual fact Ghana needs 5000 and 3000 personnel respectively for each of the two categories of psychiatric nurses. Additionally, Ghana currently has only 14 psychiatrists instead of 150. Of the 14 psychiatrists, only one is serving the entire Northern Ghana at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

At the end of 2013, about 4,641 mental and epileptic cases were recorded as against 4, 082 cases recorded in 2012. The figures though reducing at a minimal rate constitutes about 60 percent of people with epilepsy according to Mr. Ibrahim.

He said medications are supposed to be supplied by the Ministry of Health four times in a year to the Northern Region. But the region in the whole of 2013, received only one out of the four consignments promised which obviously was inadequate for over twenty district hospitals.

Executive Director of GKS Sheik Yakubu Abdul-Kareem in a statement commended all stakeholders for their various roles in ensuring the passage of the Mental Health Law (Act 846), and the establishment of the Mental Health Authority and its Governing Board. “The formation of the Regional Mental Health Sub-Committee is also another concrete move to effectively address the needs of PWMIE”, he stressed.

He however noted that, the mental health sector was still underfunded and under-prioritised. “The supply of essential medicines needed by people with mental illness to stabilize their condition is still inadequate. 

“……..Research into issues affecting mental health in Ghana is still low. Non-drug mental health services are still very limited. PWMIE still suffer discrimination, stigma and other human rights abuses”, he revealed.

Public Education and Investigation Officer at CHRAJ Iddrisu Inusah also urged employers and health officials to be mindful of the way and manner they treat PWMIE. “Such persons still have right to employment and healthcare”, he emphasised. 

He further charged District Assemblies to stop maltreating PWMIE. “These vulnerable groups are by law entitled to 2% share of the district assembly common fund given to all MMDAs every quarterly. Refusing them their share is an act of discrimination and neglect”, he charged.