In a keen determination to spearhead a development of the Northern Development Enclave of Ghana, the new Chief Executive officer, CEO of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Dr Alhassan Sulemana Anamzoya on Friday, February 28, 2020, met with the CEO of Intervalle Geneve SA, Njack Kane, internationally acclaimed Business Consultant in the rice value chain across West Africa to pursue a strategic working relationship, geared towards the overall development of the Northern Zone.

Intervalle currently leads the rice consortium funded by AGRA/KFW that includes the John A Kufuor Foundation, Directorate of Crop and Services of MOFA and Hopeline Institute.

Njack Kane is also an official Government of Ghana Consultant for Planting For Food and Jobs - the rice chapter and other high profiled projects such as One District, One Factory (1D1F) among others.

The high-level meeting aimed at leveraging the expertise and strengths of Intervalle Geneva SA to explore windows of financing and execution in aid of developing catalytic multi-stakeholders projects within the NDA Zone. This includes structuring proposals to attract foreign and national funding both preparation and execution for irrigation, farming and value chain infrastructure with the ultimate goal to stimulate growth in the local economy and also improve livelihoods with a specific focus on youth employment.

Dr Anamzoya was emphatic the NDA, under his leadership, and in close cooperation with the Minister of Food and Agriculture is poised to live its mandate of ensuring the socio-economic development of the Zone with selected cash crops in the value chains such as rice, sugar, soya bean and others playing a major role.

Njack Kane on his part pledged the zeal and commitment of his Company and that of Coalition International Partners to providing their unwavering support to the NDA. According to him, the NDA Zone holds a great deal of potential for development and therefore advised the leadership of NDA to identify and package projects that are deemed as low hanging fruits to kick start the process.

In a related development, the NDA is in advanced talks with the Savannah Agricultural & Trading Company ltd to explore a public-private partnership agreement which targets the advancement of rice farming, out-grower schemes and value chain.

The PPP agreement when implemented is expected to serve as a major Internal Generation Fund (IGF) mechanism for the NDA.

In a closing remark, a Deputy CEO of the NDA, Patrick Seidu highlighted the importance of speeding up the review process and also extended profound appreciation to Njack Kane, CEO, Intervalle Geneva SA and Hon. Samuel Jabanyite CEO of Savannah Agricultural & Trading Company Ltd for the anticipated partnership.