Mr. Philip Amoah, Director of Extensions at the Lower Manya Municipal Assembly has lauded the MAASI concept which he says has created the much needed awareness between the farmers, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Agriculture to collaborate and support the Department of Agric to fulfill its mandate. This according to him will go a long way to improve the agriculture sector in his district.
Mr. Philip Amoah who was speaking on Tuesday’s ‘Feed The Future Platform’ said that before the inception of the MAASI project the department got its budgetary support directly from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for their activities. That however changed when the department was weaned off the MOFA and placed under the district assemblies. According to Mr. Amoah, not much support has come from the district assembly since that change.
Mr. Amoah has however admitted that the timely intervention of the Mobilizing Action Towards Agricultural Sector Improvement, MAASI project, has helped created the much needed awareness. He added that though the district does not sufficiently support the Department of Agriculture financially, it does give out a few incentives such as fuel for their operations.
He also added that MAASI has clearly defined the roles of the various stakeholders in the agricultural sector and what their roles are in the effective running of the sector.
Also contributing to the show however, Miss Hilda Huadji spelt out the severe financial challenges that they still endured in the discharge of their duties as extension officers. She cited an example of a food demonstration workshop which received no funding from the district assembly though the aim of the workshop was to enlighten farmers on certain critical nutritional demands.
Mr. Amoah who also compared the DOA to an orphan also enumerated a number of challenges that confront the department. He lamented that the department particularly faced some challenges between 2014 and 2015 where they were not granted any monies for the smooth and effective running of the department.
Source: ritefmonline.org
