Accra, July 27, GNA – The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has observed that the Farmer Input Support Programmes (FISPs) contribution to increased production and yields are limited at best.
Making the observation with the Centre of Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD) and the Groundswell International, it said there was evidence to show that it did not appear that the FISPs had helped small-scale farmers.
It said those affected included the most vulnerable such as women in the long-term in a supportive way to improve on their food security and build resilient, sustainable farming and food systems that were necessary in a world facing diverse ecological, economic and social challenges.
Mr Ben Guri, the Executive Director, CIKOD in an interview at the inception meeting said partners were engaging in promoting agro-ecology in West Africa through the advocacy on the FISP Project.
The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the project to selected stakeholders in the agricultural sector and the rationale as well as activities of the project would be shared with all.
The project seeks to organise and support farmer-led campaigns to reform FISP to shift resources in existing public investments for agriculture towards increased support for small-scale farmers in making transition to a more productive, climate change resilient, sustainable, nutrition and gender sensitive farming system, based on agro-ecological principle.
He said the project was not to advocate against the FISP and all fertilizer subsidies but help reduce farmers’ dependence on external agrochemical and shift to application of sustainable ecological processes and use sustainable farm inputs to address soil fertility.
The Executive Director said it’s to advocate for reforms of the whole subsidy programme to shift the investments to initiatives of farmers for them to manager its own inputs and everything about agriculture.
He said there was the need to strengthen and expand a regenerative local economic development model that provides a viable alternative for the masses of the population.
Mr Charles Nyaaba, the Programme Officer, PFAG said climate change had a key role in the development of the agriculture sector.
He said the Association had engaged a research fellow to analyses the investments made in the agriculture sector for the past year to establish, whether there were effects especially on the fertilizer subsidy on Gross Domestic Product and farmers income.
He said they would use the finding to engage the Ministry of Food and Agriculture on how best to target the investments in other intervention programmes and if possible restructure the indications.
GNA
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