Michael Boateng
5 November 2009
Accra — Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL), the Agricultural Improvement and Land Access Programme (AILAP) and Ahafo Agribusiness Growth Initiative (AAGI), have jointly held an Open Day at Kenyasi, under the theme: "Increased Agricultural Production and productivity in Asutifi."
The purpose of the Open Day was to provide a forum to put in the public domain information on coverage and achievement of the programs since inception, also offer beneficiaries and the general public the opportunity to interact with the implementers and partners of the program, as a way of further improving and understanding the objectives of the two programs.
The Open Day was also a demonstration of the commitment of the implementers to work together with beneficiaries and other stakeholders, towards promoting sustainable agriculture in the Asutifi District.
Newmont's AILAP is a post resettlement program, established to assist farmers directly affected by the development of the Ahafo Mine Project, which was implemented in April 2006, and specifically targeted farmers who had been paid their crop or building compensations.
Under the AILAP, compensated farmers were registered and taken through business training, where their fields were then verified, and farmers then taken through the Land Acquisition and Registration (LARC) presentation.
The farmers received their first cash assistance for land acquisition, clearance and maintenance, and farming inputs were distributed to them with extension support from the Ministry for Food and Agriculture (MoFA) agriculture extension officers.
The Managing Director of African Connections Ghana Limited, designers of the AAGI Programs, Dr. Ayesha S. Hakeem, stressed that the AAGI was to help farmers to improve both productivity and profitability, adding that the program focuses on encouraging farmers to think like business men and women, and ensure that they produce to market specifications, and link their productivity to market demands.
On his part, the General Manager, Environment and Social Responsibility, Dan Michaelsen, disclosed that the first phase of the AILAP in Ahafo South, ended quite successfully with about 3,000 project impacted farmers benefiting from the package, at a total cost of over GH¢1,041,950.
He added that Newmont had spent close to GH¢1.5 million on the AAGI, which seeks to stimulate economic growth and improve the livelihoods of Ahafo communities by strengthening basic agricultural productivity, and linking program communities to agribusiness supply chains and regional and national markets.
According to Mr. Dan Michaelsen, the first part of the Second Phase of the AILAP, which is being implemented in the Amoma Project area over a two year project, for which so far GH¢116,425.75 had been spent covering farm inputs and distribution, as well as land access, clearance, and maintenance fees.
Beneficiary farmers, under the programs, exhibited their produce, ranging from foodstuffs to livestock, as a testimony of the deepening and maturity of the collaborative efforts of Newmont, Farmers and MOFA.
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