Despite the successes chalked by government’s flagship agricultural program, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), a number of challenges still militate against it.
This is because, many farmers in the Upper West Region are still having challenges accessing vital services such as; improved seeds, fertilizers, extension services, marketing and e-agriculture listed under the PFJ.
Furthermore, although the programme was aimed at roping in more women and youth into agriculture, women and persons within the youth bracket are the least beneficiaries of the programme thus their specific needs and challenges have not been addressed.
These were contained in a communiqué issued to the media by stakeholders in agriculture after a discussion on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) at Wa in the Upper West Region.
The stakeholders’ discussion was organised by the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition with support from Oxfam under the Together Against Poverty (TAP) Programme.
The meeting brought together Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs), the Budget Unit of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Private Sector, the media, Representatives from the Department of Cooperatives and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI).
Gender Responsive Budgeting seeks to ensure that the national budget responds to the different needs of men, women, boy, girls and Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
In the communiqué signed by representatives from the media, CSOs, Women in Agriculture Development (WIAD), farmers and the private sector it was stated that the five pillars of the programme alone are not enough to address the numerous challenges facing farmers across the Upper West Region.
It was also mentioned that key concerns to farmers like access to credit and timely ploughing services have not been addressed under the program particularly for women and youth.
To address these challenges, the communiqué has called for the national budget in agriculture to be tailored to meet the specific needs of women and the youth “in terms of planning, allocation disbursement” of funds. This in turn would encourage more people who fall within those categories to venture into agriculture.
The communiqué also advocated specific targeting for women and youth under the PJF program through the quota system suggesting “a system which will ensure that at least 40 percent of the beneficiaries are women and that another 30 percent of the beneficiaries are the youth”.
To address the issue of market, the communiqué recommended the resourcing of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to enable it buy food produce from the farmers at good prices.
The communiqués also called on government to fully operationalize Programmes like the One-Village-One-Dam, (1V1D), One-District-One-Warehouse (1D1W) and One-District-One-Factory, (1D1F), to support agriculture in the region.
Story filed by Mark Smith
