The World Bank has approved $500 million in financing for the Ghana Market Access and Connectivity Project (GMACP), a major initiative aimed at improving rural road connectivity, strengthening agricultural value chains, expanding economic opportunities, and creating short-term direct jobs in rural communities across the country.
Ghanaian rural livelihoods have long been hampered by poor road conditions and poor maintenance, which restrict market access, increase transportation costs, and result in large post-harvest losses.
By repairing and maintaining vital feeder roads in specific areas, enhancing all-season connectivity between rural production areas and important markets, and empowering farmers to more effectively reach buyers, shift into higher-value agricultural activities, and open up local job and income opportunities along agricultural value chains, the project directly addresses these issues.
According to Robert Taliercio, the World Bank Division Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, “This project will improve access to markets and opportunities for rural communities while strengthening Ghana’s agricultural competitiveness and resilience.”
“It will directly benefit more than 550,000 people — including approximately 350,000 farmers, 250,000 women, and 310,000 youth. It is also expected to generate more than 5,000 direct jobs and over 25,000 indirect jobs through civil works and road maintenance activities.”
Over 1,000 km of rural roads in four clusters, the Upper West, Northern, Savannah, Oti, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Bono, and Western regions, will be rehabilitated and maintained as part of the GMACP project, which will be carried out by the Ministry of Roads and Highways.
These regions are significant producers of priority crops that are essential to Ghana’s food security, including as cassava, rice, yam, and maize, but they are nevertheless limited by inadequate market connectivity. In order to lower post-harvest losses, strengthen agricultural value chains, lower food prices, and improve food security, improved all-season access seeks to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, improve supply reliability, and open up larger markets to smallholder farmers.
The GMACP includes climate-resilient design to ensure that roads and drainage systems can endure climatic hazards in the long run. Sustainability is a key component of the project: it will help operationalise the Road Maintenance Trust Fund (RMTF) and implement Performance-Based Contracts for road maintenance, while also providing technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacity and ensure that rehabilitated roads remain functional after the project is completed.
Source: newsthemegh.com