MINISTER CUT SOD FOR A 154 KL FEEDER ROAD AT KUKOBILA

MINISTER CUT SOD FOR A 154 KL FEEDER ROAD AT KUKOBILA
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Ahwoi has cut a sod for the construction of a 154 kilometer feeder road worth 6,886,834 Ghana cedis at Kukobila in the savelugu-Naton district of the northern region.
The 154 kilometer feeder road was out of 600 kilometer feeder roads to be constructed under the Northern Rural Growth Programme.
The construction feeder road from Kukobila to Tamalgu is to open up irrigated production areas to link with the major road to improve market access for the high value fruit and vegetables that are produced in the target areas and also to ensure all year round farming.
The Minister in the sod-cutting ceremony at Kukobila said the government under the leadership of John Evans Attah Mills is committed in developing the agriculture sector in the country.
According Mr. Ahwoi, government has placed the rapid socio-economic development of northern Ghana as a top priority and that necessitated the establishment of the Savana Accelerated development Authority (SADA).
The minister was optimistic that the dry season irrigation farming will help alleviate poverty and hunger which constitute the twin curse of the north.
He stated that the development of the irrigated Agriculture is no longer a choice or luxury but an obligation given the recent erratic rain fall pattern especially in the north due to the effect of climate.
The initiative which is co-financed by the government of Ghana, African Development Bank, and international Fund for Africa Development (IFAD) is also targeted to construct a warehouse in every district that will store up to 75,000 maxi bags of grains.
Mr. Ahwoi also announced that MOFA under its Medium Term Agricultural Sector Development plan for 2011 t0 2015 has targeted to develop 500,000 acres of irrigated land nationwide stating categorically that a large proportion will be in the northern sector.
Roy Ayariga, the National programme coordinator of NRGP in his address said NRGP is tackling the agricultural sector the way government is expected from the primitive module to the advance technological module of farming in the country.
He added that unless Ghana moves away from the traditional to technological approach of agriculture then we can never alleviate poverty and hunger in the country.