Government and International Fertilizer Development Centre have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to continuously work together to boost productivity of farmers and increase income.

The agreement covers areas including strengthening the fertilizer value chain, soil health and fertility management, capacity building, and climate change risk mitigation.

Under the agreement, the government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has committed to facilitating the implementation of IFDC’s activities by creating a framework conducive to collaboration that will align national fertilizer quality control regulations and the fertilizer subsidy mechanism with harmonized sub-regional guidelines.

Dr. Oumou Camara, IFDC Vice President, Programmes signed on behalf of IFDC while Mr Robert Patrick Ankobiah, Chief Director of MoFA penned the agreement for his organization at a brief ceremony in Accra.

Mr Ankobiah said MoFA would make agricultural information and data available to IFDC and would participate in analysis and production of technical reports and scientific articles.

The Ministry, he said, would share with IFDC its priorities and needs at the national level for consideration in the development of new projects and the search for funding.

MoFA would also provide IFDC with human resources and expertise to contribute to studies and consultations.

Mr Ankobiah said, “The Ministry will also identify themes in the soil-water-plant nexus for in-depth master’s and doctoral studies and will support the validation and scaling up of innovations developed by IFDC and other partners”.

Dr Camara said IFDC was dedicated to promoting relevant technologies, soil fertility management, crop productivity, commodity value chains, market information systems, and supportive policy on both public and private sector development in the agriculture sector. “We use strong partnerships to provide solutions and make our expertise available to advance the agriculture value chain,” she said.

Like many other countries in West Africa and elsewhere, Ghana’s agriculture sector has great potential, and unlocking this will deliver immense support to the economy and well-being of millions of vulnerable people.

It will take a variety of interventions to accomplish this and to reap the benefits.

The IFDC implements several key projects and programmes in Ghana, including, the Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship (2SCALE), a programme that incubated and accelerated inclusive business through partnerships with companies and the AfricaFertilizer initiative, the premier source for fertilizer statistics and information in Africa.