The statement quoted a speech read on his behalf at ReDIAL Project Close-out Workshop on Tuesday (22 October), on the theme " Transforming Ghana's Agriculture through Innovation and Stakeholder Collaboration in Accra.

"We recognize the small holder farmers contribute approximately 80 percent of Ghana's Agriculture production. The Ministry is committed to supporting them in every possible way to enhance their productivity.

"This falls in line with the Ministry's shift to the input credit system which helps farmers to access inputs that they will need for production and pay back at zero interest."

"ReDIAL's effort to provide small holder farmers with essential agriculture services coupled with the creation of Village Savings and Loans Association has made a significant impact on the agriculture sector. I have particularly taken note of the fact that 581 farmers have been impacted and cumulatively that over 11,000 farmers have benefited from this initiative," he said.

On his part, Head of Cooperation at the European Union, Massimo Mina said the Commission was committed to partnering Ghana in ensuring food security in the country.

The Research for Development and Innovation Agriculture and Learning (ReDIAL) is a 4-year project in Ghana funded by the European Union (EU) and being implemented under the EU initiative on Climate-relevant Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture1 (and food systems) in developing countries - DESIRA.

The project is contributing to the transformation and innovation in agriculture and food systems in Ghana through action research, application of innovative technologies and organization of farmers and organizing multi-stakeholder platforms for policy reforms.

Specifically, the project is fostering innovation in improving soil fertility in Ghana and innovative technology to improve threshing of Grains and Cereals.

The project is also promoting climate-resilient agriculture practices and has gender perspective and providing support targeted at about 10,000 farmers with 60% being women and farmers with physical disabilities.

The project is being implemented in five (5) specific Districts/Municipals and Regions of Ghana: Yendi Municipal of the Northern Region, Techiman Municipality of the Bono East Region, Ejura-Sekyeredumase Municipal of the Ashanti Region, Sefwi Wiawso District of the Western North Region and Kwahu Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region.

It was implemented by a consortium of three (3) partners made up of two (2) non-for-profit organizations: Friends of the Nation (FON) the lead, Tropenbos Ghana (TBG) and one (1) research-based university; the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources (FRNR) of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and is supported by two private companies SAYETECH (producers of Multi-Crop Threshing technology) and SESI Technologies (producers of the FarmSense soil nutrition testing Technology).