USAID inaugurates seed inspection unit in Tamale

• Posted on April 6, 2016April 6, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) convened to inaugurate a newly constructed seed inspection laboratory on March 31 in Tamale, Ghana.  The USAID-constructed Ghana Seed Inspection Unit (GSIU) aims to provide smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana with quality seed at affordable costs.

The United States Ambassador, Robert F. Jackson, inaugurated the facility on behalf of the U.S. government.  The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, and the Northern Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, William Boakye-Acheampong, were also in attendance.

GSIU is a unit of the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of MOFA and its purpose is to increase the quantity and quality of high-yielding seeds available to rural farmers. The GSIU, located in Tamale, is one of three seed inspection laboratories constructed by USAID in partnership with MOFA. The laboratories will improve agricultural productivity by increasing access to improved seeds.

“The labs will help make certified seeds more available, so that even farmers in the most remote areas are able to use seeds that bring more bountiful harvests,” remarked United States Ambassador Robert. P. Jackson. “It is up to the Ghana Seed Inspection Unit of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure seeds sold to farmers are true-to-type and high quality. It is important that we all collaborate to ensure Ghana’s seed sector thrives.”

The new seed laboratory was constructed through USAID’s Agriculture Technology Transfer project, which is part of Feed the Future. Feed the Future is the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, which works to reduce poverty and enhance the nutritional status of rural populations, particularly women and children.

-The Finder