Ministry of Agric to start national sensitisation campaign

The Directorate of Crop Services (DCS) and Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture would kick-start a nationwide sensitisation campaign on the plants and fertilizer Act, 2010 (ACT 803).

The DCS and PPRSD are embarking on the campaign as part of the initiative to increase the capacity of the private sector and civil society organisations to advocate pro-business agriculture policy reforms in Ghana.

Likewise, the DCS and PPRSD see it important that the public and key stakeholders who are directly affected by the law are educated about how it applies to them and their businesses.

The USAID/Ghana Feed the Future Agriculture Policy Support Project and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa are jointly supporting DCS and PPRSD in the campaign as well as creating awareness concerning the national seed and fertilizer policies and regulations.

Also supporting are the USAID/Ghana Agriculture Technology Transfer Project and the West Africa Fertilizer Programme.

To make the campaign a success, the country has been zoned into four. Zone one includes the Upper East, Upper West, and Northern Regions. Zone two; Ashanti, and Brong Ahafo Regions, Zone three; Eastern, Volta and Greater Accra Regions, while zone four comprises Western and Central Regions.

The campaign is set to kick off in Zone 3 with a sensitization campaign in Koforidua from November 4 - November, 7.

ACT 803 was passed by Parliament in 2010, as a significant step for the Government to make the agricultural sector more robust, and to increase private sector investment in the agriculture industry.