Agriculture

Mission statement:

MoFA's Mission is to promote sustainable agriculture and thriving agribusiness through research and technology development, effective extension and other support services to farmers, processors and traders for improved livelihood.

Directorates

  • Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD)

The Women in Agricultural Development Directorate (WIAD), is one of the seven Technical Directorates of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).

 Vision

A highly professional and competent Public Institution that supports livelihood and well being of especially women in the agricultural sector.

 Mission

To develop effective policies and programs that promotes delivery of improved technologies and information on agricultural production and post production in an environmentally sustainable manner.

 Functions

To promote

  • Improved nutrition interventions: bio-fortification, food fortification, food enrichment, nutrition education in relation to food production, post production and food consumption.
  • Value addition to agricultural produce: food processing and preservation
  • Food safety along the agricultural value chain (eg safe production and handling of exotic vegetables, cottage level processing, etc)
  • Resource management (farm, home, processing site)
  • Gender mainstreaming of all agricultural policies, programs and projects

The Directorates have four Units namely:

Ø  Nutrition

Ø  Food Safety

Ø  Value addition and

Ø  Gender/Livelihoods 

 

Responsibilities

WIAD is primarily responsible for Policy formulation – Developing and ensuring the implementation of policies which are beneficial to especially women farmers and processors in the rural, suburban and urban communities.

Provision of Technical backstopping to regional and district staff for effective transfer of appropriate technologies to farm families in crop, livestock and fish production, processing, utilization and marketing through regional officers and other stakeholders. In addition, WIAD collaborates with various institutions including research, Projects and MOFA Directorates in order to support dissemination and capacity building efforts to the regions and districts. Monitoring and Evaluation of implemented programs at the regions and districts are also part of our responsibility.

 Extention

VISION

To establish an efficient and demand-driven extension service in a decentralized system through partnership between the government and the private sector for provision of quality service to our clients.

MISSION STATEMENT

Work with the regional and district administration to ensure that extension services contribute in an effective and efficient way towards the social and economic development of Ghana.

OUR CORE FUNCTIONS ARE

DAES is tasked to perform the following functions:

  • Extension Policy formulation and Planning;
    • Review various extension approaches, framework document on RELCs, FBOs and private service providers in extension to improve on extension service delivery.
    • Facilitate in the human resource development at all levels in extension delivery.
  • Coordination of Extension activities;
    • Collaborate with a range of organisations/ agencies including NGOs, private service providers and public organisations in providing extension service.
    • Disseminate information on appropriate approaches to all extension service providers.
    • Collaborate with other agencies in facilitating the formation, sustenance and management of Farmer Based Organisations.
    • Promoting strong research-extension-farmer linkages.
  • Provision of Technical support to the regions and districts in the planning and implementation of extension activities;
    • Facilitate in planning sessions at the district and regional levels and regional management meetings.
    • Provision of technical materials on agricultural technologies.
    • Provision of logistics for field staff throughout the country.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation of all extension activities under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:

  • Collaboration with other MDAs
  • Provision of technical advisory service
  • Provision of information on NGOs and CBOs involved in agricultural development
  • Provision of information on Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs).
  • Provision of information on agricultural technologies

Crops

VISION

To become a highly professional and competent technical public institution dedicated to promoting quality information and to determine the appropriateness of technologies for dissemination to ensure sustainable development of the crop sub sector.

MISSION

To promote the production and facilitate the processing, distribution and marketing of food, industrial and export crops; quality planting materials and the efficient use and management of soil and water resources for sustainable agriculture production.

FUNCTIONS OF THE DIRECTORATE

The functions of the Directorate under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture are as follows

  • Facilitate and promote the development and production of food, industrial and export crops, in line with the policy of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
  • Facilitate the development and distribution of improved planting materials for farmers in collaboration with Research, Extension Services Providers and private sector.
  • Provide technical support to the Regional and District Agriculture Development units on improved agronomic practices, efficient use and management of soil and water resources and design interventions to solve major constraints militating against the crop sub sector.
  • Initiate, monitor and coordinate national programmes/projects in the crop sub sector.
  • Liaise with relevant stakeholders and institutions for sharing of information towards improved production, packaging and marketing of crops and crop products.
  • Advise the Minister of Agriculture on policy issues relating to the crop sub sector development.

Veterinary & Animal production

VISION

The vision of the Veterinary Services Directorate is to create an animal health system which provides quality animal health services to enhance livestock production and productivity.

MISSION

The Mission of the Veterinary Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is to ensure a stable animal health situation through the provision of quality animal health care services by both public and private sector veterinary practitioners to enhance livestock, poultry and companion animals’ production and productivity.

OBJECTIVES:

To accomplish its mission the Veterinary Services Directorate pursues the following objectives:

  1. Provide animal health services for the national livestock in order to further the expansion of the livestock and poultry industries in the country.
  2. Protect public health by controlling animal diseases communicable to human beings.
  3. To alleviate suffering among animals.
  4. Protect the health and safety of pet and zoological animals.

FUNCTIONS OF VETERINARY DIRECTORATE

  1. To assist in the formulation of sound animal health policies that will provide congenial animal health

environment for increase livestock production

  1. To provide an efficient and reliable animal health technical service
  2. To ensure the timely availability of reliable and relevant data on animal health information for efficient management decision
  3. To strengthen institutional capacity for improved animal health management and services delivery.
  4. To improve farmer and public knowledge of animal disease and encourage their participation in animal disease prevention and control activities.
  5. To establish, strengthen and maintain linkages within the sector and other relevant institution
  6. To ensure protection of public health through controlling diseases communicable from animals to human beings.
  7. To ensure that meat and other products of animal origin are safe for human consumption
  8. VSD helps to regulate imports of meat and animal products by ensuring that such products come from countries certified by the OIE to be disease-free.
  9. Control of movement of animals by ensuring that only healthy animals are permitted to be moved from one area to another to prevent disease transfer.
  10. To ensure that all animal coming into the country are quarantined and only those found healthy are allowed passage into the country.
  11. To alleviate the suffering of animals through timely veterinary intervention and  educating the populace on animal welfare issues.

CURRENT INTERVENTIONS/PROJECTS

WEST AFRICA AGRICULTURE PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAMME (WAAPP)

  1. CASSAVA:
  2. SWEET POTATO:
  • COCKEREL PROJECT
  • LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT PROJECT( LDP)
  1. SHEEP
  2. PIG