The Gushegu Livestock Market, which became operational in April this year, has become the main source of revenue for the Gushegu Municipal Assembly contributing about 50 per cent of the Assembly's Internally Generated Funds (IGF).

Mr Yaja Dawuni Robert, Municipal Chief Executive for Gushegu, who announced this, said "The actual collection of IGF of the Assembly since the operationalisation of this new market in April, 2021, has more than doubled and serving as our highest major source of revenue internally for the 2021 fiscal year."

He added that "As at September, 2021 the total IGF collected from the livestock market was GHC95,398.50 bringing the total IGF collected to GHC207,865.42."

He announced this during the formal inauguration of the Gushegu Livestock Market at Gushegu in the Northern Region on Tuesday.

The Gushegu Livestock Market was constructed by the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), a non-governmental organisation, in partnership with the Gushegu Municipal Assembly, with funding support from Acting for Life, an organisation based in France, European Union, and AFD as part of the PAMOBARMA project.

The PAMOBARMA project is aimed at supporting livestock mobility for better access to resources and markets in the country and West Africa in general as well as to promote peaceful co-existence between herders, particularly those involved in transhumance and crop farmers.

The livestock market has been sited at Gushegu because of its strategic location as a major transit point for transhumance in the country and to the West Africa sub-region.

Mr Yaja said "It is therefore, envisaged that the market has the potential to serve as one major source for capital investments if the right strategies and measures are put in place to maximise and sustain our collections".

He said the Assembly, consequently, had adopted and implemented key strategies such as the adoption of revenue collection rates together with key stakeholders, and formed and deployed revenue taskforce comprising staff of the Assembly to the market on every market day to sustain revenue collection from the market.

He assured GDCA and the donors that the Assembly would continue to work towards improving agro-pastoral development, thereby enhancing job creation and promoting peaceful coexistence within communities in the area and the country at large.

Mr Hardi Tuferu, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in-charge of Livestock, said the livestock sector in the ECOWAS sub-region was envisaged to create millions of jobs and generate substantial revenue for the people and governments in the area.

Mr Tuferu said the construction of the Gushegu Livestock Market was a major step in developing the livestock sector in the country to create jobs and generate revenue.

He called on the Gushegu Municipal Assembly and the Management of the Market to prioritise maintenance of the market to continue to serve the farmers and all stakeholders.

Mr Bertrand Lebel, Executive Director of Acting for Life, said "It has been a strategic decision of Acting for Life more than 10 years ago to support local partners, which are involved to develop resilience and development of the livestock mobility and trading in the sub-region".

Mr Lebel added that "Therefore, since 2010, in collaboration with our implementing partners in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Ghana, Acting for Life has led sub-regional projects to support livestock trading across West Africa".

Dr Kwame Oppong Anane, Representative of the Ghana Cattle Ranching Committee, expressed gratitude to all the partners for the construction of the facility, which was crucial for the improvement of the livestock sector in the area.

Dr Osman Al-hassan, Board Chairman of GDCA expressed appreciation to all the partners for their commitment to deliver the facility.

Gushe-Naa Abdulai Mahamudu Shitobu (I), Paramount Chief of Gushegu lauded the provision of the market calling for harmonious and improved working relations between cattle herders and local people for the benefit of all.