By Stephen Asante, GNA
Accra, March 04, GNA – The World Food Programme (WFP) has constructed a 300-metric tonne warehouse to boost food production at Ejura in the Ashanti Region, one of Ghana’s main maize production and trading hubs.
The facility, capable of storing six thousand 50 kilogramme bags of grain, is equipped with an electric platform weighing scale, standard test weight, stitching machine, sowing thread, fumigation sheets, rodenticide and rodent bait boxes.
It has also a grain moisture content meter and other basic equipment.
Ms. Rukia Yacoub, the WFP Ghana Representative and Country Director, inaugurating the warehouse at the Ejura market in the Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality, noted that the facility would allow farmers to dry, clean, sort, bag, bulk, aggregate and store their grain.
« The main difference between this warehouse and others is the ownership and management structure which was developed based on a participatory approach with all stakeholders, » she observed.
The project was executed with contributions from Canada in line with the ‘Purchase for Progress (P4P)’ initiative, as well as the ‘Enhanced Nutrition and Value Chains (ENVAC) Programme.
The Municipal Assembly and traditional authorities, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), and representatives of the farmer-based organisations worked hand-in-hand to plan and construct the facility.
Ms. Yacoub said the warehouse represented the kind of support provided by the WFP to the government under its ‘Country Strategic Plan 2019-2023’.
Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, said the project was in tune with the government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme which sought to ensure food sufficiency for the country all year round.
GRB
