MIDA, ADRA TRAIN 50,000 FARMERS (PAGE 20, FEB 3, 2010)

THE Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) with the assistance of the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), has so far trained 50,000 farmers in all aspects of farming and marketing.
Some of the farmers, who were drawn from 30 districts spread over the country, have already benefited from financial assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), operated and supervised by MiDA.
The MCA is a special fund of $547 million provided by the government of the United States to assist farmers in Ghana’s deprived communities, some of which are also to be provided with the necessary social amenities to make life worth living for the inhabitants.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MiDA, Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, made this known at the inauguration of six farmers’ associations in the Afram Basin at Akwasiho last Friday
The groups, known as the Afram Basin Value Chain Association, comprises farmers cultivating maize, legumes, cassava, yam, plantain and vegetables, as well as suppliers of farming inputs and exporters of such crops.
According to Mr Esson-Benjamin, the rationale behind the MiDA project was to ensure that the farmers generated adequate incomes from their activities to reduce poverty from the communities, some of which would also be provided with social amenities.
He, therefore, advised the farmers to capitalise on the opportunity to improve their lot.
That, according to him, would make it possible for them to better educate their children to acquire responsible positions to end the vicious cycle of poverty associated with the rural areas.
Mr Eson-Benjamin stated that a total of 60,000 farmers would benefit from the package.
He, however, appealed to the farmers to make good use of the credit facilities offered them to enable them to pay back the loans for others to also benefit.
He expressed his appreciation to ADRA for training the farmers, as well as officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) who offered technical support.
The Project Manager of ADRA responsible for the MiDA Project, Mr S. Asante Mensah, said his outfit was currently training 30,000 farmers in the Afram Basin, as well as facilitating the export of their produce most of which found their way to the U.K. market.
The Country Director of ADRA, Dr W.K. Brown, said ADRA would soon train 10,000 farmers in the northern regions.
He advised the youth in the rural areas to go into farming for their livelihood instead of migrating to the cities for non-existent jobs.
In an address read by Mr J.A. Amoafo, the Planning Officer of the Kwahu East District, on behalf of the district chief executive, he said the assembly would rehabilitate a number of roads in the area to ease the transportation of foodstuffs to the buying centres.
The Chief of Akwasiho, Nana Afari Keseku II, who is also the Akwamuhene of the Kwahu Traditional Area, expressed his appreciation for the packages offered to the farmers in the area.
He, however, called for the total rehabilitation of the road linking the town with other parts of the region.