PRESS RELEASE
September 16, 2015	Media Contact: In Bolgatanga: Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Mob: 0261803601

More than 10,300 poor smallholder farmers in Upper East Region benefit from food

security and livelihoods interventions

Bolgatanga, September 16, 2015 – Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC) and the Association of Church-based Development NGOs (ACDEP) announced that they are working with over 10,300 poor smallholder farmers in 65 communities in the Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam and Kassena Nankana West District Assemblies and the Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly of the Upper East Region under the Resilient and Sustainable Livelihoods Transformation (RESULT) project. 

RESULT aims to increase and diversify the farmers’ agricultural production, build on existing sources of income, and establish new income opportunities including aquaculture.  Over seventy per cent of the farmers are women, including a substantial number of widows.

The announcement was made at a Regional Project Consultative Committee meeting held in Bolgatanga, chaired by the Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, and attended by district and regional officials.  At the meeting, the key project stakeholders received an update on RESULT’s progress and plans.

According to Ms. Gail Motsi, CFTC’s RESULT Project Director, “In the past year, RESULT has successfully improved the skills and knowledge of vulnerable farmers and increased their access to inputs, improved technology, financial services, and markets; integrating gender equality and environmental management throughout.  We could not have achieved this success without the strong support of the five District and Municipal Assemblies.”

Mr. Malex Alebikiya, ACDEP Executive Director, also notes that, “The project activities are integrated into the Medium Term and Annual work plans and budgets of the District and Municipal Assemblies as part of the mainstreaming, District and Municipal Assembly ownership and sustainability process.”

Some highlights of the achievements to date are:

v  An increase in the use of certified seeds and improved and sustainable agronomic practices by both male and female farmers;

v  An increase in the construction of improved livestock housing and the vaccination of animals, including through Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccination campaigns in each community;

v  An increase in access to crop and animal extension services by both male and female farmers;

v  An increase in maize and groundnut yields;

v  A reduction in the mortality of goats and sheep;

v  An increase in the number of farmers, especially women farmers, engaged in dry season gardening;

v  An increase in access to regular weather forecasts, agricultural produce pricing information and buyers;

v  An increase in the numeracy and literacy skills of over 1,100 farmers with no formal education, predominantly women;

v  An increase in access to savings and loans through the creation of 29 Village Savings and Loans Associations;

v  An increase in engagement in alternative income-generating activities such as soapmaking, shea butter processing, basket weaving and beekeeping;

v  The delivery of community-based gender equality, nutrition education and environmental management campaigns, reaching thousands of community members; and

v  An increase in the capacity of rural communities and District and Municipal Assemblies to engage in improving the standard of living of rural communities in the Upper East Region.

“We are very pleased with the progress that the RESULT Project has achieved in our region with our most vulnerable farmers – not only in the crops and livestock sectors but also in terms of alternative livelihood activities.  We hope to see further progress in the future and are committed as regional, district and municipal stakeholders to ensure that it happens,” says Dr. Bernard My-Issah, Regional Director, Food and Agriculture.

RESULT is funded by the Canadian Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade & Development, and by CFTC for a total of CDN$19 million over six years (2012-2018). 

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