University of Ghana Academic Advocates for Revision of Ghana’s Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan”
Professor Dilys Sefakor MacCarthy, a scholar at the Soil and Irrigation Research Centre, University of Ghana, emphasizes the imperative of updating the country’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Food Security Action Plan.
Prof. MacCarthy argues that a revised CSA action plan would not only enhance the responsiveness and effectiveness of policy planners and implementers in addressing current climate change challenges but would also align Ghana with new global commitments to combat climate change.
She gave the following examples of what a revision to the current action plan, which was created between 2015 and 2016 and introduced in 2017, might entail:
“making good use of emerging knowledge ornewer information that are relevant to addressing current demands.”
Prof. Dilys MacCarthy Advocates for Climate Smart Agriculture Plan Revision in Interview with Diamond News”
During a stakeholders’ consultation on the revision of the Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan held in Tamale, Prof. Dilys MacCarthy, a member of the Soil and Irrigation Research Centre at the University of Ghana, highlighted the necessity for a revised action plan.
The two-day event, attended by officials from the Department of Agriculture, representatives from research and academic institutions, NGO partners, and farmers from the Savanna agroecological zone, as well as the Bono East and Oti Regions in the Transition zone, aimed to capture current needs and enhance the effectiveness of the existing plan.
Prof. MacCarthy emphasized the importance of addressing evolving climate challenges and aligning with global commitments.
“So the idea is not to discard the old document, but to afford those at the implementation levels,an opportunity to have their insights and perspectives captured. This is in order to bringing on board, hitherto uncovered areas such as the livestock and animal production among other stakes in the face of changing climate,”Prof MacCarthy stated.
“If you take institutional capacity development and the actions that fall in that leg, it include infrastructure, however this also hasn’t be captured appropriatelyand a revised document will take care of those needs,” she added.
Gibrilla Ahmed, an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in Accra, emphasized the lack of coordination between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the Department of Agriculture, the main ministry leading climate change efforts for food security.
Ahmed stressed the need to bridge this coordination gap to prevent underreporting of activities. He welcomed efforts by Policy Link and MoFA to address shortcomings in the current Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Food Security Action Plan.
Dr. Gerald Forkuor, the Climate Change Lead at Feed the Future, Policy Link, highlighted the urgency of updating documentation to facilitate climate change actions, citing the rapidly changing climate. Stakeholder inputs, including those from sub-national consultations, will contribute to the expected draft for relevant authorities and actors.
Meanwhile, Dr. David Azupogo, Executive Director of Meta Foundation, called for locally driven solutions to address climate-smart agricultural funding.
During the two-day Policy Link and MoFA consultation meeting in Tamale on the CSA and Food Security Action Plan revision, he suggested harnessing Village Loans and Savings Associations (VLSA) commonly used by rural farmers, structuring them into a well-regulated apex body to meet farmers’ overall needs for agri-financing and climate change adaptation.
“The VLSA is an alternative resources pool that offers a sustainable and more reliable approach in which we can build our development around. Take for example, local groups of farmersraising between 80,000 to 100,000 cedis within six months to a year from their own investments and the multiplying effects of these on their communities, districts and the nation at large? The Apex VLSAs are needed to bridge the funding gap,” Dr. Azupogo explained.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in collaboration with Feed the Future, Policy Link, conducted a two-day workshop where participants delved into the examination of the current Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security Action Plan.
The workshop, aimed at assessing the plan’s success, challenges, lessons learned, and potential improvements, sought to enhance the nation’s resilience to a changing climate while striving for food security.
Source: Osman | Ghana360news.com
