AGRA to launch irrigation facility

Ghana and 12 other African countries are to benefit from a $100 million irrigation facility to assist millions of small scale farmers in the area of irrigation on the continent.

The initiative would be launched next year by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The new President of AGRA, Dr. A. Namanga Ngongi, named the other 12 African countries to benefit from the water management (irrigation) facility as Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda.

He said the rainfall pattern on the continent was becoming more erratic, possibly because of global warming, and expressed the hope that with the initiatives of AGRA more youth on the continent would go into agriculture. He noted that there were also initiatives to improve the soils of the beneficiary countries and provide farmers with seedlings, adding that both the soil improvement and seedlings were expected to cost about $150 million and $168 million respectively.

He indicated that AGRA ... would develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment.

Dr. Ngongi lauded the move by African governments to commit themselves to improving their agriculture sector, which had not received the needed attention. AGRA would not only work with governments, but extension officers and farmers associations.

Meanwhile, AGRA has said it would by 2009, address major challenges in off-farms systems and markets including improvement in crop storage, finance systems, market information and transportation system in its countries of operation.

“Concurrent with all of this work, AGRA will advocate for policies that support small-scale farmers, including policies that promote rural development and environmental sustainability," it said in a statement.

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