BY: GODFRED ANKU KAALI
The University of Ghana (UG) has held a proposal validation workshop on the Financing Agrochemical Reduction and Management Plus (FARM+) Child Project Ghana in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital.
The workshop was organised to fine-tune Ghana’s proposal for the global FARM+ Programme ahead of its rollout in 2026.
The FARM+ Programme is a Global Environment Facility–funded initiative led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and UNDP serving as implementing agencies.
The FARM+ Child Project Ghana aims to help the country transition away from unsustainable farming practices towards more sustainable and climate-resilient systems. The five-year project, which begins next year and runs from 2026 to 2030, is being implemented by UNIDO, with the University of Ghana serving as the national implementing entity.
The project focuses on protecting agricultural landscapes, improving soil health, reducing soil and water pollution, and strengthening coordination and knowledge sharing. It also seeks to promote stronger policies and enforcement, improve food supply chains, and increase public and private financing to ensure the responsible management of pesticides and agricultural plastics.
In an interview with GBC News, the National Coordinator of the FARM+ Child Project Ghana, Mr. Ebenezer Budu-Biney, said measures have been put in place to ensure that the gains made under the project will extend beyond its implementation period.
He added that farmers are being trained to adopt safer alternatives to hazardous agrochemicals.
“We train farmers to reduce the use of hazardous agrochemicals and also introduce them to alternatives that will not be detrimental to our environment, so that the consumers will have a healthy life,” he said.
The Head of the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology at the University of Ghana, Prof. Eureka Emefa Ahadjie Adomako, stressed that inter-sectoral collaboration is essential to reducing the use of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) in the agriculture sector.
“We are hoping that when we all come together from different sectors of the economy, academia, industry, and the policy side, at the end of the day, we will have sustainable agriculture,” she said.
The Director of the Chemical Control and Management Centre at the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Mr. Joseph Edmund, underscored the need for greater education among farmers to reduce the misapplication of agrochemicals.
He noted that all agrochemical products must be registered and regulated by the EPA and encouraged the public to report manufacturers of substandard chemicals.
“There may be others who are doing certain things that we do not know and that is where we call for the public to help us with information. These are chemicals and they can cause great problems,” he said.
Presentations and discussions at the workshop focused on Ghana’s roadmap for reducing agrochemical pollution, investment opportunities, and strategies to enhance coordination among agencies involved in agricultural production. The FARM+ project will also be implemented in seven other countries: Benin, Costa Rica, Egypt, The Gambia, Mexico, Nepal, and Nigeria.
