Ghana and 12 other African countries are to benefit from a $100 million irrigation facility to assist millions of small scale farmers in the area of agriculture on the continent.

The initiative would be launched next year by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), chaired by the immediate past Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan.

AGRA, among other things, aims at helping farmers and their families to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

Interacting with a section of the press at a brief ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, the President of AGRA, Dr A Namanga Ngongi, named the other 12 African countries to benefit from the water management (irrigation) facility as Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda.

He said the rainfall pattern on the continent was becoming more and more erratic possibly because of global warming, and expressed the hope that with the initiatives of AGRA more youth on the continent would go into agriculture.

He noted that apart from the irrigation facility, there were initiatives to improve the soils of the beneficiary countries and provide farmers with seedlings, adding that both the soil improvement and seedlings were expected to cost about $150 million and $168 million respectively.

He indicated that AGRA was funded by the Rockefeller, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, and that the organisation would develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment.

Dr Ngongi lauded the move by African governments to commit themselves to improving their agriculture sector, which had not received the needed attention.

He said the agriculture sector was key to the development of the continent, and that apart from the provision of farm seedlings, water management facility and soil improvement, the farmers would also be trained to handle what ever they would be provided with.

According to him, AGRA would not only work with governments, but extension officers and farmers associations, and commended the government for the country's growth rate.

Meanwhile, AGRA has said it would by 2009, address major challenges in off-farms systems and markets including improvement in crop storage, finance systems, market information and transportation system in its countries of operation.

“Concurrent with all of this work, AGRA will advocate for policies that support small-scale farmers, including policies that promote rural development and environmental sustainability," it said in a statement.


Source: Daily Graphic