A two-daysensitisation workshop to enhance successful implementation of the Modernisation of Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) project has been held in Sunyani, capital of the Bono Region.
The participants were the regional and district directors of agriculture, internal auditors, planning and budget officers of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).
A 138 million Canadian dollar project, sponsored by the Canadian government, is meant to support the government’s agricultural interventions, by equipping agricultural extension officers to enable them to provide modernised extension services to promote efficiency, boost production and good quality agricultural produce for the local and export markets.
Opening the programme, Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development explained that it was designed to address some shortcomings which had been identified in the Project Implementation Plan (PIP) and Project Appraisal Document (PAD) following the audit of some of the beneficiary institutions in 2017.
The shortcomings, he mentioned, included misuse of funds stemming from weak internal controls, lack of appreciation of the operations of the project by key officers of MMDAs and late release of funds to the various departments of agriculture for their activities.
“The sensitisation programme is therefore to address the technical and knowledge gap in PIP for key actors of MAG in line with its implementation and clearly define their roles and responsibilities toward the achievement of the performance targets as well as the repercussions of their actions and inactions,” he stated.
According to the deputy minister who is in charge of Rural Development and Agriculture, the programme was also to sensitise key staff of the MMDAs on the linkages between MAG and the government’s flagship agricultural programmes including Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) and District Centre for Agriculture Commerce and Technology (DCACT), to ensure the efficient utilisation of resources.
Emphasising that the implementation of MAG required close collaboration between all the various key actors and stakeholders, Mr Ntim urged MMDCEs in particular, to demonstrate efficient leadership for the successful implementation of the project for the benefit of Ghanaian farmers.
