The Minister for Finance, Dr Amin Adam, has disclosed that the government has allocated GHC 8 billion to provide relief and some mitigative measures for the farmers affected by the dry spell.

The Minister, who disclosed this on Monday in Accra, stated that the package includes cash transfers and the supply of food and other relief items to these farmers.

The regions impacted by the drought are, Northern, Upper East, North East, Savannah, Upper West, Bono, Bono East and Oti. They contribute approximately 62 per cent of the country's grain production, making this crisis a threat to the country's food security.

"Our response may not entirely neutralise the extent of the problem. But our response will help stabilise the situation until we escape the crisis. As the Minister for Food and Agriculture said, we are seeking to raise about 500 million U.S. dollars, the equivalent of 8 billion Ghana Cedis, to fund the crisis response programme", he noted.

He added that a technical task force comprising development partners, the Ministries of Finance and the Food and Agriculture would monitor the distribution of the relief items to ensure fairness and accountability.

"We are committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of these resources that we are mobilising to respond to this crisis," he assured.

Mr Adam explained that 2.5 billion of the 8 billion allocated for the crisis response would be drawn from the contingency fund and 2.4 billion Cedis as support from development partners.

He noted that the support from the World Bank would be used for cash transfers and supply of inputs while funds from the budget would be used to provide food relief to farmers.

On his part, the Minister for Defense, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, assured that the government has deployed and intensified security across the borders to ensure no grain is exported or smuggled out of the country.