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Selected Veterinary Technical Officers from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Savannah Region have undergone a six-day training to update their knowledge on animal health and disease prevention across their various jurisdictions in the region.
Selected Veterinary Technical Officers from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Savannah Region have undergone a six-day training to update their knowledge on animal health and disease prevention across their various jurisdictions in the region.
Organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in partnership with Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the officers were drawn from North Gonja, Central Gonja and North East Gonja districts.
The training, held in Tamale on Wednesday, formed part of the European Union (EU) funded Food Security Response in Northern Ghana Project.
The three-year project, which started in August 2023 billed to end in July 2026, aim to improve food security and livelihood in some selected districts in Savannah, Upper East and North East Regions.
In 2023, the European Union launched a €10 million Food Security Response Project in Northern Ghana, in partnership with FAO and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
The Savannah Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, Mr Seidu Sulemana, thanked FAO and EU for organising such a training to enhance the knowledge of their technical officers on animal health
He said the training would go a long way to deepen their knowledge on some of the things they have learnt within the six days training.
The director also called on livestock farmers to regularly check and vaccinate their animals in order to improve on their health
The project aimed to support over 10,000 smallholder farmers affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and increasing climate variability.
Furthermore, it also aimed to improve food and nutrition security, and sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable rural farming populations in six selected districts in Savannah, North East, and Upper East Regions.
The initiative is expected to address the challenges of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition through the promotion of Good Agronomic Practices (GAP), Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) and Agricultural Business to improve crop and animal production and value chains development.
It will also mainstreams climate change mitigation strategies, targeting 10,000 direct beneficiaries including smallholder crop and livestock producers, especially women, youth and people living with disabilities.
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to improved livelihoods, food and nutrition security for vulnerable rural farming populations in Northern Ghana.
This according to FAO would be achieved through the implementation of proposed project activities in these intervention areas to achieve the integrated outcomes.
FAO said the animal production component aimed to build farmers capacity to improve animal production through effective disease prevention and management, husbandry and biosecurity practices, fodder production, processing, storage and feeding.
Additionally, the farmers would be trained to mitigate the effects of climate change on livelihoods with a focus on livestock production.
Abdulai Mohammed Kofi, a participant at the training in an interview, said he applauded FAO, MoFA and EU for the knowledge and skills impacted to them
He, therefore, appealed to FAO to continue engaging them to deepen their knowledge in their various areas of operations in the agricultural value sector.
FROM YAHAYA NUHU NADAA, TAMALE
