Zuarungu (U/E) April 13, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would soon ban the transportation of poultry from the three northern Regions of Ghana to the southern sector.
The Upper East Regional Director of MOFA, Mr Roy Ayariga, announced this on Thursday at this year's People's Assembly held by the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly at Zuarungu near Bolgatanga.
The MOFA Director explained that there was an outbreak of Avian bird-flu in Burkina Faso with which the three northern regions shared a common border and transacted poultry business with each other. Mr Ayariga indicated that in order to prevent bird flu from entering Ghana, which as at now was free of the disease, MOFA had initiated plans to ban the movement of poultry from the three northern regions to other parts of the country.
He advised residents of the area to boil their chicken thoroughly before eating, and warned that smuggled poultry from neighbouring Burkina Faso would be impounded, burnt and buried.
Mr Ayariga implored poultry farmers to report any incidents of poultry death to MOFA offices for the necessary steps to be taken, and entreated them to put on rubber protective hand-gloves whenever attending to their poultry.
In his address, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Isaac Nsoh Amoah, pointed out that the introduction of the Capitation Grant had led to an increase in enrolment figures in schools in the Municipality.
He said that the enrolment figures in primary schools for the 2004/2005 academic year stood at 20,952 whilst that of 2005/2006 was 23,156, an increase of 2,204. That of JSS, he noted, rose from 6,570 to 6,839 in the same period, recording an increase of 269. The MCE indicated that the Assembly had also completed work on the new Bolgatanga market, which would soon be connected with electricity before it would be put into operation.
He further announced that the Assembly had allocated offices for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and provided it with all the needed logistics, which had enabled the Scheme to take off fully.
Mr Amoah said whilst the assembly realised an amount of 1.1 billion cedis from internally generated revenue in 2004, it moved up to 1.23 billion cedis in 2005.
Participants at the forum expressed concern about the high rate of malnourishment among children in the three northern regions. They also bemoaned the way school lands in the region were being encroached upon by individuals, and appealed to the government to extend electricity to the remote parts of the Municipality.
Reacting to the issue of malnourished children in the region, the Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, explained that with the introduction of the School Feeding Programme supported by the World Food Programme and the Catholic Relief Services, the problem of malnutrition among children in the region would soon be addressed. The Regional Minister stated that his outfit in collaboration with the Department of Town and Country Planning would work to put a stop to the encroachment of school lands in the Municipality.
Mr Gambila assured participants at the Forum that the government was working assiduously to ensure that the national power grid was extended to the rural areas and hinted that the Ministry of Energy had dispatched more electricity poles to the region to facilitate the rural electrification project. 13 April 06
Zuarungu (U/E) April 13, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would soon ban the transportation of poultry from the three northern Regions of Ghana to the southern sector.
The Upper East Regional Director of MOFA, Mr Roy Ayariga, announced this on Thursday at this year's People's Assembly held by the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly at Zuarungu near Bolgatanga.
The MOFA Director explained that there was an outbreak of Avian bird-flu in Burkina Faso with which the three northern regions shared a common border and transacted poultry business with each other. Mr Ayariga indicated that in order to prevent bird flu from entering Ghana, which as at now was free of the disease, MOFA had initiated plans to ban the movement of poultry from the three northern regions to other parts of the country.
He advised residents of the area to boil their chicken thoroughly before eating, and warned that smuggled poultry from neighbouring Burkina Faso would be impounded, burnt and buried.
Mr Ayariga implored poultry farmers to report any incidents of poultry death to MOFA offices for the necessary steps to be taken, and entreated them to put on rubber protective hand-gloves whenever attending to their poultry.
In his address, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Isaac Nsoh Amoah, pointed out that the introduction of the Capitation Grant had led to an increase in enrolment figures in schools in the Municipality.
He said that the enrolment figures in primary schools for the 2004/2005 academic year stood at 20,952 whilst that of 2005/2006 was 23,156, an increase of 2,204. That of JSS, he noted, rose from 6,570 to 6,839 in the same period, recording an increase of 269. The MCE indicated that the Assembly had also completed work on the new Bolgatanga market, which would soon be connected with electricity before it would be put into operation.
He further announced that the Assembly had allocated offices for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and provided it with all the needed logistics, which had enabled the Scheme to take off fully.
Mr Amoah said whilst the assembly realised an amount of 1.1 billion cedis from internally generated revenue in 2004, it moved up to 1.23 billion cedis in 2005.
Participants at the forum expressed concern about the high rate of malnourishment among children in the three northern regions. They also bemoaned the way school lands in the region were being encroached upon by individuals, and appealed to the government to extend electricity to the remote parts of the Municipality.
Reacting to the issue of malnourished children in the region, the Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, explained that with the introduction of the School Feeding Programme supported by the World Food Programme and the Catholic Relief Services, the problem of malnutrition among children in the region would soon be addressed. The Regional Minister stated that his outfit in collaboration with the Department of Town and Country Planning would work to put a stop to the encroachment of school lands in the Municipality.
Mr Gambila assured participants at the Forum that the government was working assiduously to ensure that the national power grid was extended to the rural areas and hinted that the Ministry of Energy had dispatched more electricity poles to the region to facilitate the rural electrification project. 13 April 06
