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The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has cut sod to mark the beginning of the implementation of the warehouses component of 1-District-1-Warehouse of government’s Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) at Ejura-Sekyeredumase in the Ashanti region.

According to President Akufo Addo, the purpose of these warehouses would be to handle produce, as well as to store the anticipated surpluses under the “Planting for Food and Jobs” campaign.

Speaking at the official launch of the warehouses component of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) on Wednesday, the President indicated that the project is in line with the government priority projects and Constituency needs assessment.

“This initiative would complement the Government’s one district, one warehouse policy to support the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative”, the President stated.

Ejura-Sekyeredumase ares was chosen as the venue because it is a predominantly farming community and the lead producer of maize in the country but they however lack adequate storage or warehouse facilities for their farm produce often resulting in huge harvest losses.

Again, the Municipality also hosts an Agriculture college and the demonstration farm of the National Service Scheme; thus, holding the event there would be an opportunity to inspire a lot more young people especially the graduate youth, to consider agribusiness under the new government agriculture policies as viable occupation.

The one district, one warehouse initiative will cover the construction of local modern markets and warehouses. The construction of the markets is expected to compliment Government’s agenda of increasing agricultural productivity.

Moreover, the construction of warehouses is expected to help minimise post-harvest losses which commonly emanate from poor farm-level practices, poor transport and handling, and poor storage activities that exposes farm produce to moulds, rodents and other pests.

Each of the warehouses to be constructed will be certified to the standards of the Ghana Grains Council to implement the Warehouse Receipt System. This system will enable many smallholder farmers to register and deposit their farm produces (such as grains) and use it as collateral for borrowing money from banks or other lending institutions.

Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) is one innovative intervention of Government which aims to allocate to each of the 275 Constituencies the Cedis equivalent of US$1 Million annually to be invested in priority development needs of the Constituencies and other initiatives, such as One District, One Factory; One Village, One Dam; Agricultural Infrastructure; “Water for All” Projects; and Sanitation Projects.

IPEP will be implemented under the jurisdictions of the three Development Authorities, namely, Northern Development Authority (NDA), Middle Belt Development Authority (MBA), and Coastal Development Authority (CDA).

The NDA will cover Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions. The MBA will manage Ashanti, Eastern and Brong Ahafo Regions; while the CDA will cover Greater Accra, Volta, Central and Western Regions.