Korea earmarks $6m to support farmer-based co-operatives

In response to a proposal by the government on an agricultural initiative, Korea has earmarked US$6 million to support farmer-based co-operative organisations in Ghana over the next four years.

The proposal was jointly made by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2014 as part of national efforts to create employment opportunities and enhance agricultural development.

Following the proposal, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the two ministries held a number of consultations to conceptualise and design the project which will be implemented in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions on a pilot basis.

A memorandum of understanding to pave the way for the implementation of the project was signed between the governments of Ghana and Korea in May this year.

According to Mr Lee Minho, an agricultural specialist of the Rural Development Team of KOICA, project managers in Korea who would be working with their Ghanaian counterparts on the initiative would be selected and sent to Ghana in September 2016.

Mr Lee was making a presentation on the 2016 new rural development projects of KOICA in Ghana when a 14-member Ghanaian delegation paid a visit to Hansalim Cooperative Federation, a farmer-based cooperative society, at Anseong, 80 kilometres south of Seoul, in Korea last Tuesday.

By the arrangement made for the implementation of the project, Ghana and Korea are to establish a joint implementation body by October 2016, while a new cooperative bill is expected to be passed to provide an institutional framework to ensure the effective functioning of farmer-based cooperative organisations.

There are more than 2,000 registered agricultural, industrial, financial and service cooperatives in Ghana.

Agricultural co-operatives include production and marketing co-operatives, poultry and livestock co-operatives, fishing and fish marketing cooperatives, food processing and marketing cooperatives.

Immediately after the necessary foundation had been laid, Mr Lee said, the project would roll out a capacity development strategy to train lecturers of the Ghana Cooperative College in Kumasi, executives of farmer-based organisations, officers of the ministries of Employment and Labour Relations and Food and Agriculture, as well as other stakeholders for the effective implementation of the project.

Hansalim Cooperative

Earlier in a separate presentation, the Managing Director of Hansalim Cooperative Federation, Mr Cho Wan-hyung, said from the experience of the federation, there was the need for policy makers in the agriculture sector to manage the sector to make farmers happy and confident.

Additionally, he said it was important for managers of the agricultural sector to ensure food self sufficiency.