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GASIP honours 59 farmers in UER
The Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Francis Ennor, has assured farmers in the region that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will not withdraw its interventions to them in this farming season as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Regional Director allayed the fears of the farmers at an award ceremony organised by the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP) and his outfit in Bolgatanga on Monday to honour some farmers in the region for adopting Agriculture Conservation Practices.
In all, GASIP rewarded 329 farmers in the seven programme beneficiary regions with tricycle motors and personal protection gears for farm activities, including Wellington boots, nose masks, long sleeves and trousers, eye goggles and knapsack sprayers.
For the Upper East Region, 59 farmers drawn from the Kalbeo, Yebongo, Sumbrungu, Katanga, Yikine, and Yorogo communities were part of the awardees.
Mr Ennor told the farmers the region had started receiving its package of the farming subsidy under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
He told the farmers that arrangements were being made by the Regional and District Directorates of Agriculture to ensure that the farmers got their share of the government’s fertiliser and seeds subsidies on time.
Mr Ennor said any lapses to support farmers to undertake farming activities this farming season would have the tendency of affecting food security in this period of COVID-19.
He indicated that plans were far advanced to deploy information technologies in the form of mobile applications and radio programmes on good farming practices to complement the work of agriculture extension agents to educate the farmers on good agriculture practices to ensure food security.
Mr Ennor impressed upon the farmers to adopt climate smart agriculture technologies such as the use of climate-resilient seeds, applying the right quantity of fertilizer at the right time, appropriate land preparation devoid of slash and burn, to enable them harvest good yields.
The Climate Change Adaptation Manager of GASIP, Dr.Edmund Akoto-Danso, who addressed the ceremony on behalf of the GASIP National Programme Coordinator, Mr Klutse Kudomor, said the ceremony, being organised separately in seven regions, marked the beginning of the 2020 farming season.
He said the five-year GASIP, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), would this farming season provide support in the form of climate-resilient seeds and other inputs to 1,500 smallholder farmers in 12 districts to cultivate a maximum of two acres each, using various climate-smart agriculture technologies and techniques.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Bolgatanga, Mr Joseph Amiyure, said formerly farmers in the region used to plant early April, but now it often travels to June and entreated the farmers to take the issues of climate change very seriously.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, BOLGATANGA
Dr Theresa Baffour, an advocate for ending violence and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SAHM SAHW Foundation, has said that society plays a critical and pivotal role in breaking the cycle of domestic violence.
According to her, domestic violence is a major contributor of making women, who are mostly the victims, mentally derailed and unable to engage in economic activities.
She said this when the foundation called on the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, to solicit support for the initiative by the “Strong and Healthy Minds, Strong and Healthy Women” (SAHM SAHW) to combat domestic violence within the Ga State.
The visit was occasioned by the fact that domestic violence cases have become quite prevalent in the Ga communities and is retarding growth.
According to her, the canker was an impediment to national development because the victims were usually tortured and would have to go through series of therapies to return to the right state of mind.
Dr Baffour mentioned that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) places a mental toll on women, and was, therefore, important to break the cycle through comprehensive mental health support, crisis intervention and empowerment programmes in communities with high rates of GBV.
This intervention, she underscored, would help in empowering the denigrated victim of domestic violence to soundly heal, build and thrive.
Dr Baffour added that the initiative would provide holistic, trauma-informed mental health care and advocacy for young women affected by domestic violence.
According to her, the above statement would create safe spaces for healing and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills for renewed hope and empowered life.
The Ga Mantse pledged his support for the laudable initiative to combat domestic violence and also acknowledged the need to address it in the Ga State.
Further endorsement came from Justice Julia Naa-Yarley Adjei Amoah, Chief of Staff at the Office of the Ga Mantse, as she commended the team of SAHM SAHW Foundation for taking a bold step to end the canker in the Greater Accra.
She added that it was a step in the right direction to save vulnerable women from torture, stress and emotional abuse.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
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Traders have returned to the streets of Accra, occupying pavements and stretches of some roads after the last major decongestion exercise.
The exercise, which was aimed at restoring order in areas like Kingsway, CMB, Rawlings Park, Tudu etc, have now been defeated.
From Kingsway to Rawlings Park, traders display several wares including, footwear, herbal medicines, plastic products, fresh fish, second-hand clothing, and vegetables, among others.
Local Evangelists are also not left out as they scramble for spaces on the streets.
Pedestrians, therefore, find it difficult to move around when shopping, due to the human and vehicular congestion created by the traders.
In an interview with The Spectator, Auntie Abigail, a trader, said her return to the streets was to sell more, and she saw nothing wrong with it.
Hajia, who deals in wholesale items, indicated that they were unable to make sales as their colleagues move to the pavement and since customers don’t want to come inside, they prefer to buy from them.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Michael Kpakpo Allotey, has given traders a grace period to go back to their shops.
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
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