MONITORING REPORT FOR FORTH QUARTER – 2023

1. INTRODUCTION

Monitoring is a key component in Agricultural Extension delivery. It is a process of ensuring that planned activity implementation is carried out specification to meet target.

The Director of Agric. (MDA) and his team went out and monitored the activities being implemented by all Agric. Extension Agents (AEAs) and Municipal Agric Officers (MAOs) in the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) work plan.

The quarter under review is from October to December, 2023, and the monitoring cover all Operational Areas within the Municipality.

1. DETAILS OF THE MONITORING
2. WHO COMPLETED THE MONITORING

1. WHEN AND WHERE WAS THE MONITORING COMPLETED

• WHAT WAS MONITORED
• Monitoring of crops and animals performance
• Ascertain farmers’ knowledge on Fall Army Worm and its control measures.
• Ascertain the extent of distribution of PERD seedlings to farmers.
• Existence of FBOs within the municipality
• Oil palm and coconut seedlings distribution from minerals commission
• The operationalization of PERD.

1. OUTCOME OF MONITORING

1. Positive findings of monitoring

• Monitoring served as motivation to participating farmers in the implementation of planned activities.
• It was realized during the monitoring that farmers knowledge in the identification, diagnosis and control of FAW menace have enhanced.
• Farmers who took delivery of the seedlings from Minerals Commission have planted.
• The unpredictable nature of the rainfall this year has forced the farmers to take the notion of climate smart agriculture.

2. Negative findings of monitoring

• The problem of some youth stealing the produce of farmers still continues thereby demoralizing victim farmers to expand their works.
• Inadequate knowledge on the part of most farmers renders them ineffective in the area of adoption of new technologies.
• Lack of commitment on the part of some FBO executives make the group dormant.

1. WHAT ISSUES NEED TO BE ADDRESSED

• Training of FBOs in record keeping.
• Capacity building in the area of FBO formation and development.
• The theft of some food items from farmer’s field.

1. WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNT

• Effective collaboration with the Central administration helped minimize the problem of lack of support to the Agric department.
• Motivating farmers to action is a very big tool to adoption.
• Extension delivery using the demonstration approach is the best.
• Monitoring as an activity that can contribute to achieve results. Farmers get excited when monitoring team visit them and so tend to do more and better express themselves.

1. WHAT IS THE MONITORING PLAN FOR THE FOLLOWING PERIOD

• Enhance monitoring of the performance of the PERD fields and seedlings supplied by Minerals commission.
• Planning to incorporate and involve the Assembly fully for the monitoring so to afford them the opportunity to understand the operations of the Agric department.

1. CONCLUSION

The department of Agriculture is on course of achieving the ultimate outcome of the MAG programme through the achievement of the intermediate outcomes, in the area of;

• Increased adoption of relevant production enhancing technology by farmers.
• Increased adoption of market oriented approaches to farm management by farmers.
• Increased private sector investment in sustainable agriculture input supply, production, marketing and processing.