The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has reiterated calls to government to partner with farmers directly to enable them access and utilise existing opportunities in the agriculture sector as well as create new ones through engagements.

Speaking at the third edition of the national dialogue organised by Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers, National Facilitator of Forest and Farm Facility, Elvis Kuudaar, urged relevant government agencies to communicate with farmers on developing actionable plans to help farmers survive climate change.

“Government has rolled out a number of initiatives relating to climate change and also access to finance and social protection as well as access to market. Most of these programmes have achieved some successes, but we have some major challenges where some of these farmers are unable to access these existing opportunities.”

“So this provides an opportunity for government agencies to be able to explain what the requirements are and collectively can agree on an action plan to support GhaFFaP members to meet this requirement and be able to become partners and not beneficiaries to some of these government interventions,” he said.

Vice President of Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers, Halima Saeed disclosed that the forum was aimed at creating a platform to enable farmers network with financial institutions and learn new marketing techniques.

“We are here because issues of access to credit have been very critical, issues of a market for our producer organisations, marketing at the right places for the right prices has been very intentional. We think that a forum like this will create that opportunity for discussion,” she stated.

Meanwhile, a former Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Agyei Yeboah indicated that farmers through the dialogue sought to learn how to properly project themselves and highlight their significance to the ecosystem.

“This dialogue sought to develop actionable plans, what our interests are, what we want to achieve, find ways to articulate them to our stakeholders for better appreciation so they can support us,” he said.

Climate change variability has affected various agriculture and forest-based value chains and contributing to poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, deforestation, among others.

The Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers in helping farmers adapt to climate change implemented the GhaFFaP Innovative Climate Action which turns the challenges to opportunities within the dry savanna landscape of Ghana.  The GhaFFaP Agenda 2030 seeks to promote climate resilience, alleviate poverty and build inclusive communities.