Accra: Mr Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, has called on farmers to establish cooperatives to enhance coordination, access to support, and sustainability as part of the Feed Ghana Programme. He emphasized that organizing farmers into groups would make government interventions more impactful.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr Opoku made these remarks during a press conference in Accra. He provided updates to farmers and the public on the progress made and discussed how Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) and cooperatives should position themselves for the roll-out of the Feed Ghana Flagship Programme. This programme is a key component of the broader Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA), aimed at modernizing agriculture, creating jobs, reducing food inflation, and fostering agro-industrial development.
The Feed Ghana Programme prioritizes key agricultural commodities such as maize, rice, and cocoa, while implementing targeted interventions to promote smart farming practices across the country. It is a central pillar of the national agenda for food self-sufficiency, agribusiness development, and the realization of the 24-Hour Economy envisioned by President John Dramani Mahama.
Mr Opoku highlighted that cooperatives offer platforms for farmers, particularly smallholders and vulnerable groups, to benefit from the advantages of scale, collective bargaining, and structured engagement with government and private sector entities. "Forming cooperatives is not just an administrative requirement; it is a strategic pathway to transformation. I am therefore calling on all farmers, especially smallholder farmers, women, youth, and persons with disabilities, to take this opportunity seriously," he stated.
He advised farmers to organize themselves into farmer-based organizations and cooperatives in line with their crops, livestock, or value chain activities. He pointed out that cooperatives promote knowledge sharing, adoption of best practices, enable bulk purchasing of inputs at lower costs, and enhance the capacity to attract donor and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) support.
Mr Opoku assured farmers of the commitment of district agricultural offices to assist them with the process of registration, governance training, and linkage to support services. The Ministry plans to roll out sensitization campaigns in all regions, engage traditional authorities, and work closely with Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure the smooth formation and formalization of farmer cooperatives across the country.
The Feed Ghana Programme is designed to directly support organized groups of farmers by providing access to Farmer Service Centres (FSCs), banking and financial services, credit and investment, training and capacity building, market linkages and price negotiation, policy advocacy and inclusion, and input subsidies and strategic reserves.