By Albert Futukpor, GNA
Accra, Feb 18, GNA – Stakeholders in agriculture at the local level have undergone a training on decentralisation and local governance to understand the workings of District Assemblies to understand and contribute to various government agricultural programmes.
The two-day training held in Tamale, was attended by farmers, chiefs, assembly members and district directors and planning officers, who were taken through the decentralisation process and the Local Governance Act of 2016, Act 936.
It was organised by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) and facilitated by officials from the Office of the Head of Local Government Service.
It formed part of the Sustainable Agriculture and Agro-ecology Project being implemented by PFAG with support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa to improve agricultural production in the country.
Mr Charles Nyaaba, Head of Programmes and Advocacy of PFAG, said « We have come to realise that our members, who are at the grassroots level, opinion leaders in the communities, assembly members, and chiefs are normally left out when the districts are taking decisions especially on agricultural development. »
Mr Nyaaba added that the training, therefore « seeks to connect community members, farmers, assembly members and chiefs to their leaders at the district level, such as; district planning officers and directors of agriculture, who normally take inputs from farmers when they are going to draw budgets or district action plans. »
He urged participants to continue to engage one another to ensure that community members understood the government’s flagship programmes in the agricultural sector to make inputs into them to ensure success.
Mr Abdul Rahman Mohammed, President of PFAG urged participants to impart the knowledge gained to others to know their rights and visit District Assemblies to know what was in stock for them to improve agricultural production.
Madam Latif Ayishetu, a Farmer from Chereponi in the Northern Region, who was a participant, said the training enlightened her on the decentralisation processes, which would ensure effective engagement with the District Assemblies to improve her agricultural activities.
CAE/GRB