The International Centre for Enterprise and Sustainable Development (ICED), a non-governmental organisation, has supported farmers in the Sissala West and East Districts with guinea fowls and pigs to enhance their livelihoods.
The support would enable the farmers to focus on the scientific and commercial production of guinea fowls and pigs in the two districts, to
enhance sustainable agriculture, improve livelihoods, and reduce poverty levels among people.
The NGO has so far provided 2,400 guinea fowls from Belgium and pigs from Pong-Tamale Veterinary College, and Babile Agricultural Training Centre to the farmers last year.
It has also brought in 2,520 guinea fowls in June this year for distribution to the farmers.
The Social Fund of the Food Industry of Belgium is funding the four- year project with 428,000 Euros to improve on the social and economic fortunes of farmers, who until now had depended on rain fed agriculture for their livelihoods.
Professor Emmanuel K. Boom, Chairman of ICED announced this during the inauguration of the Sustainable Agriculture, Poverty Reduction and
Livelihood Improvement in Ghana Project (SIPII) at Tumu.
He said the two districts have comparative advantage on sustainable food production in poultry and animal husbandry, and that the development of these sectors was key to ICED and the people.
He therefore advised the farmers to adopt the best practices to overcome the challenges that they would be facing and encourage the youth to embrace the project and stop migrating to cities in southern Ghana for jobs.
�Let us use the fowls and the pigs to improve local breeding to supplement nutrition and economic livelihoods,� Professor Boom advised, adding that, there was no justification for people in the districts to go hungry any longer.
�We should now be able to overcome the seasonal handicap in agriculture by integrating our agricultural practices with livestock and poultry farming,� he added.
Professor Boom announced that the NGO was considering the establishment of a feeding mill to feed the birds and the pigs, and make the project more sustainable and attractive to the youth.
The NGO, he said, was collaborating with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as well as the University for Development Studies (UDS) and
universities in research findings, to expand its operations in the Upper West Region.
Mr Kale Cezar, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, who inaugurated the project challenged the people to use the endemic poverty status among them to make a success story of the project.
He urged the farmers to reorient their mindsets and make maximum use of the enormous local resources available to them to come out from the shackles of poverty.
Mr Cezar appealed to the Ghana Education Service to collaborate with Ministry of Food and Agriculture and heads of second cycle institutions to reinstitute animal production such as poultry and piggery, which could be
used for practical lessons and meals for students.
He said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) was working in partnership with neighbouring Burkina Faso to introduce the animal feed pellets technology to farmers to boost livestock production in the Region.