Mr. Marcellinus Dery, lecturer at the Communication Studies Department, a WASCAL scholar and a PhD candidate in Climate Change and Education in the University of The Gambia has written a creative piece that has been published by the Daily Graphic on how the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) in Ghana has improved the yields and socio-economic lives of 17,976 farmers in seven municipal and district assemblies in the Northern, North-Eastern and Upper East regions. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture ((MoFA) is undertaking a project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone to transform the agricultural value chains within the project areas.
Mr. Dery notes how the interventions by SAPIP have been greatly appreciated by all beneficiaries of the project with some testimonies about how it has improved their yields and socio-economic lives in general and are calling for more of such interventions for even better improvements.
He mentions that the 2021 National Best Farmer Alhaji, Mohammed Mashud, has commended the construction of the feeder roads by SAPIP in Sanzee where Mohammed Mashud has his farm and the changes after the intervention. He states that it has been a game changer in his farming business. The 2021 National Best Farmer elaborates by mentioning how he is able to get all of the supplies he needs for his farm as well as easily transport his yields to the various market centres. He further adds that, the new roads have brought in new job opportunities to the villages around his farm as new quarrying companies and commercial farmers are flooding the place.
Mr Dery further writes on the Soo-Namagurraana of the Soo Traditional Area who couples as the Managing Director of Minga Agribusiness GH Ltd and also a beneficiary of the project, mentions how the intervention of land development and the construction of bunds in the inland valleys have massively supported and helped boost agricultural produce in the rice area against previous productions prior to the SAPIP. Sulemana Alhassan, the West Mamprusi Municipal Director of Agriculture, states how there is a boost and increase in rice harvest of about 10 to 15 bags per acre after the SAPIP in Janga Two inland valley.
Writing on the accessibility of the new feeder roads by SAPIP, Mr. Dery Mentions a trainee of the Tamale College of Education who testifies how accessible some roads in Nwodua community which were previously inaccessible during rainy seasons have become accesible. An example the trainee points out is the broken bridge along Gumno road due to broken culverts which had made it impossible for vehicles to access the community resulting in struggles of farmers in getting tractor operators to plough their farmlands.
Shea butter producers are also extremely excited about the feeder roads as it has boosted and improved their businesses and now have more buyers coming in to purchase shea butter to different places making their socio-economic lives better.
Mr. Dery also writes that the Project Engineer of SAPIP, Mr. Dakudzi mentions to Daily Graphic during a project site tour that the process of increasing income, agricultural productivity and infrastructural development among participants in the rice, maize, and soybean value chain promotes food and nutrition security as it is crucial for the transformation of sustainable agriculture because this has attracted investors into the Northern Savanah Ecological zone. It is obvious that indeed SAPIP under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture ((MoFA) is doing a good work transforming agricultural value chains and tackling the infrastructural gaps in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone.
A report by Gloria Quartey-Papafio Amuzu