AfDB’s intervention raises hope about African food sufficiency drive

The $35 million Savannah Investment Programme Productivity Investment Project (SIP) and the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tamele, the northern region of Ghana, offer a fresh opportunity to transform the agricultural landscape of the continent towards food sufficiency.

Farm Manager of the Cudjoe Abimash Farms, Osman Abdulai, spoke extensively on the value addition of his farm to the rice, maize, soybean and livestock value chain.

He told visiting journalists that the farm was doing 31 hectares of beans and soybean but scaled up to 253 hectares and diversified into maize and soybean in 2019 when it joined the programme.

“And the farm is not resting on its oars. This year, it is doubling down its effort to hit the 1,500-hectare production target,” he added.
 
On poultry, the farm manager said the farm has grown to about 5,000 birds, which has made it a major supplier of eggs in the region. “Its target is to emerge a national player in eggs and other agricultural produce to reduce imports,” he said.
  
Another beneficiary of SIP and the Chief Executive Officer of Ms Wunzooya Farms in Tamale, Mohammed Shaibu, said the SIP has assisted his firm to expand operations.

“Currently, we were rearing around 3,000 birds but with the intervention of SIP, we started rearing about 5,000 of different species. With the SIP, we were able to expand because of the intervention they brought us,” he said.
 
Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPF), Northern Region, George Dassah, called for sustenance and expansion of the scheme to other parts of Africa.      
   
AfDB’s Chief Agriculture Policy Economist and Coordinator of Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, Philip Boahen, said the project was aimed at reducing the importation of animal protein and enhancing the competitiveness of the poultry industry.
  
He said the project was also meant to increase national food and nutrition security as well as income, and enhance and build capacities in entrepreneurship through the small-scale operation with deliberate efforts to reach out to more women and youth.