Accra: Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships (CLIP), a non-governmental organization, has engaged the Minister for Food and Agriculture in a significant advocacy effort addressing climate change and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers and communities. The discussions focused on CLIP's interventions over the years, its current emphasis on enhancing the resilience of smallholder farmers for food security and climate change, as well as the Ministry's strategies to boost food production. The collaboration sought to explore potential partnerships between CLIP and the Ministry for the benefit of smallholder farmers.
According to Ghana News Agency, the engagement aligns with CLIP's implementation of the climate change component of the Empowerment for Life (E4L) Programme. This initiative aims to ensure that climate-vulnerable communities adopt climate resilience strategies and technologies to increase agricultural adaptability and improve livelihoods. Mr. Lukman Yussif, Director of CLIP, led the organization's delegation to meet the Minister in Accra, emphasizing the importance of strong collaboration between government and NGOs in policy formulation to ensure that policies and programs reflect the people's interests.
Based in Tamale, CLIP has been active for the past 30 years in empowering vulnerable communities through integrated programs that promote climate resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and community development. As part of the E4L Programme, CLIP has established a Coalition of Farmer Associations in the Northern, North East, and Savannah Regions to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers in the face of food security and climate challenges.
Mr. Yussif highlighted CLIP's work in agropastoralism, an initiative that fosters cooperation between farmers and herders to ensure peaceful coexistence, and sought the Minister's support for the Cattle Ranching Committee. He also addressed the challenges smallholder farmers face in transporting produce to market centers and urged the Minister to address these issues.
Mr. Abdallah Mohammed, Technical Advisor for Food Security, Climate Change, and Resilience at the E4L Programme, underscored agriculture as a primary focus of CLIP. He articulated the need for collaboration between the Ministry and the Coalition of Farmer Associations to enhance food production. He expressed concern over the exclusion of agriculture from the Guidelines for the utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for the current year and appealed to the Minister to reconsider its inclusion.
In response, Mr. Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture, reiterated that agriculture is central to the government's economic transformation agenda. He assured that the Ministry is committed to working with community commodity-focused cooperatives to facilitate the registration of farmer groups and tailor specific support toward them. Additionally, the Ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to ensure agriculture is included in the DACF Guidelines for this year.