The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has disclosed that the government has distributed 1,500 bags of fertiliser to each agricultural constituency across the country as part of efforts to support farmers ahead of the farming season.

Appearing before Parliament’s Assurance Committee on Thursday, July 9, Mr Opoku said the intervention covers all constituencies engaged in agricultural activities, with arrangements in place to ensure areas yet to receive their allocation are supplied.

“We have recently distributed fertilisers to all the agricultural constituencies in this country. Every constituency has been given 1,500. It’s not even a district. Every constituency,” he said.

The Minister explained that although some areas were still awaiting delivery, contractors responsible for the distribution were working to complete the process.

“Those who have not received — maybe the contractors are still supplying, so they will receive theirs,” he added.

Mr Opoku expressed confidence that all outstanding deliveries would be completed by the end of the following week.

“But it is believed that by the close of next week, every district will have received the quantities we have assigned to them,” he stated.

The Minister further revealed that the government had introduced a special arrangement to support smallholder farmers following concerns that some were left out under previous fertiliser distribution systems.

According to him, an assessment of last year’s programme showed that some peasant farmers did not benefit when the traditional distribution channels were used, prompting the government to design a targeted intervention for them.

“Last year we had a report that after using the traditional routes for the distribution of the fertilisers, some of the peasant farmers, smallholder farmers, were neglected,” he said.

“They were not served. So we said if that is the case, because they constitute the majority of our farmer population, let’s have a special dispensation for them,” he added.

Mr Opoku said the Peasant Farmers Association received 15,000 bags of fertiliser last year under the arrangement, with the allocation increased significantly this year.

“And so last year we gave the Peasant Farmers Association 15,000 bags. And this year we have increased that to 40,000 bags for them,” he revealed.

The Minister emphasised that the 40,000 bags allocated to the association are separate from the 1,500 bags distributed to each agricultural constituency.

He said the initiative forms part of broader efforts to ensure equitable access to agricultural inputs and prevent smallholder farmers, who make up a significant portion of Ghana’s farming population, from being excluded from government support programmes.