The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) with support from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is set to introduce a new extension services framework to guide the activities of agriculture extension officers in the country.
Players in the agriculture sector believe the ineffective and lack of extension officers in Ghana have affected farming activities in the country, hence the poor performance of the agricultural sector in Ghana.
Farmers in Ghana have severally complained about the lack of extension officers in their respective farming communities. Where the officers are found, their operations cover a few number of farmers leaving a large farmers unattended to.
In order to formulate one common framework or standard for extension personnel in the country, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is reviewing the existing extension framework and standards.
To this end, over 50 extension officers from the southern sector of the country convened in Accra, to review the existing extension framework or standard governing the activities of the service personnel in the country. They were drawn from both the public and private sectors.
Participants who attended the two-day workshop included regional directors of agric extension officers, NGOs and some district directors of agriculture. The programme is to sure that they can have a common understanding of what the standard or the framework is all about.
Agriculture extension officers in the country were challenged to deliver effectively on their services to farmers in Ghana.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Kwame A. Amezah, the Director at the Directorate of Agric Extension Services (DAES), explained that the essence of the programme is to develop standard for extension delivery.
“We brought all of them to Accra to agree on the standard to be used in extension delivery, so that we can use that to judge ourselves in future.”
According to him, the focus is to have one common standard such that they can serve their clients better.
“The purpose is to develop a framework or standard to guide our work to ensure that we deliver extension services to the highest level and use that one to judge various districts in the country.”
The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, in charge of Rural and Economic Development, Mr. Augustine Collins Ntim mentioned that various agricultural programmes in the country require the services of a comprehensive extension delivery and that delivery will make meaningful if it is coherent, consistent and focused.
“To do that we need a policy that will guide the development of that framework. And am happy that MOFA is championing the programme.”
The minister mentioned that for the past year the services of the extension officers in the country have not been effective due to insufficient resource allocation.
He said the extension services department of MOFA has been part of the decentralize system and the integration has brought some challenges.
“We need to come out with a new approach and focus that will help and also motivate them on the services they are offering,” he pointed out.
He said it is important to broaden access to agricultural extension and ensure effectiveness of its structure and relevance of its content and focus in a way that will be consistent with the vision of the government.
He stated that agricultural sector is crucial to rural development and contributes significantly to any initiative designed to alleviate poverty and for this reason there is a great need for a strong agricultural extension and advisory services led by government in partnership with the relevant stakeholders.
He commended the Canadian government for providing about 135 million Canadian dollar to support agriculture extension in the country, in order to help increase the production and productivity at the farm gate level.
For her part, Mrs. Prosper Anku Okrah, Deputy Director in charge of Public Extension Services at the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES) said the new framework looks at the strategic areas that the services have designed to push extension delivery.
According to her, the overview of the existing framework to have a new one is about the extension of the policy itself. “What we seek to do is to review the processes that we have been implementing all these years. And this extension policy or framework or standard will particularly look at the new thing that need to be added on, so that regulations can sit well when its developed.
A representative from the Ghana Federation of Agricultural Producers (GFAP) who took part in workshop said he was optimistic to see good and better standards of extension in the new framework, so that at the end of the day the farmer at the lower level can benefit.
He said the introduction of the standard should come with monitoring system to ensure that agric extension officers are doing their work and at the end of the day the farmer also at the grassroots level getting the support that they need.
Similar exercise will take place in the northern sector of the country after which the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) will have a national workshop to adopt the framework.
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Source : Daily Express Ghana