FAO and the Government of Ghana  have signed the Country Programming Framework (CPF), defining the priorities for collaboration in support of Ghana’s national development.

With an estimated budget of USD 31.6 million for the development of agriculture and sustainable environment, the CPF will provide an opportunity to improve the effectiveness and impact of FAO’s work in the country and draws on FAO’s comparative advantage whilst ensuring that its programmes are coherent with national and corporate priorities.

The agreement was signed by Clement Humado, Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Ato Forson, Deputy Minister of Finance, on behalf of the Ghana Government and Lamourdia Thiombiano, the Deputy Regional Representative and FAO Country Representative to Ghana, on behalf of FAO.

In an address at the signing ceremony, Humado expressed the government’s willingness to partner with FAO to mobilise and direct resources and technical expertise in the three priority areas of the CPF -  Food and Nutrition Security, Environment and Sustainable Natural Resource Management, and  Rural Development and Resilient Livelihoods.

On his part, Forson assured his ministry is ready to provide the necessary support to ensure the success of the CPF.“I wish to commend FAO for their continued support towards the people of Ghana in their strive to contribute to the achievement of national development objectives in agriculture, rural development, and food and nutrition security.”

FAO’s deputy regional representative said the CPF was co-owned by the Government of Ghana and FAO and explained that it was a planning and a results-based management tool that would yield much dividend for the agricultural sector.

He also assured that development partners and donor organisations would be engaged and presented with programmes and projects drawn from the CPF in order to attract resources to finance programmes and projects outlined in the CPF.

“FAO will contribute through its Technical Corporation Programme (TCP) to the implementation of the CPF,” Thiombiano said. The remaining resources will jointly be mobilised with the Government.

On the occasion, the parties also signed the Technical Cooperation Programme ‘Agricultural Sector Wide Approach’ (AGRISWAp), which eyes harmonising the co-ordination of interventions in Ghana’s Medium-Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP), specifically in the monitoring and evaluation of the agriculture sector policies, programmes and investments.