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AGRICULTURE

“Eat local rice to promote our local production” – Dr. Kwakye Afriyie

Municipal Chief Executive of Wenchi in the Bono Region. Hon. Dr. Prince Kwakye Afriyie has added his voice to the call by the President of the Republic on Ghanaians to consume locally produced rice so that local farmers can continuously be in business, grow the economy and also serve as motivation to producers.

Date Created : 12/11/2019 2:39:23 AM : Story Author : E D K Tottimeh Jnr/Ghanadistricts.com

He made this call at the 35th Edition of Municipal Farmers Day Celebration which was held under the theme “Enhancing Small Scale Agriculture towards Agribusiness” at Nwoase in the Wenchi Municipal.

He noted that our hardworking farmers could stay in business and improved on their rice production if we consumed what they produced.

He said in many parts of the world farmers were counted among the wealthiest people, a situation which had until recently been the reverse in Ghana and attributed this to our inability to patronize what they produce.

He said the continuous dependence on foreign products was what was killing our local industry.

He appealed to matrons and caterers in Senior High Schools to cook locally produced foodstuffs for the students since it was far more nutritious compared to the foreign ones, he added.

Dr. Kwakye Afriyie noted that it was partly due to this reason that the government had brought the 1 District 1 Factory to process products that comes from the farms to the final consumer.

He disclosed that there was a factory coming up in Akrobi (Wenchi) under the 1D1F programme which will soon start the production of biscuits, chocolate, etc. with watermelon and cashew as its raw materials.

He reiterated his call on investors to come to invest at Branam where according to him, there are over 100thousand acres of state secured farmlands for agriculture.

On Bushfires he cautioned farmers and hunters especially to be cautious about the way they set fires in the bushes as the harmattan season was already in place. He said people have made huge investments and it needed to be safeguarded and not destroyed.

As the program was held at Nwoase, he seized the opportunity to acknowledge the effort and hard work of the four successive traditional Priests of Nwoase shrine (Nana Kwaku Firi shrine) for ensuring a bushfire free community for decades now.

He thanked the community for a sustainable ecology a situation which he said deserved commendation.

He thanked the former President Jerry John Rawlings for introducing the Farmer’s Day Celebration after a severe bushfire which ravaged the country and brought about severe famine.

He praised the president Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo for the introduction of the Planting for food and jobs. He said there were bumper food productions in the country due to the introduction of the PFJ program.

On his part, the Municipal Director of Agriculture Mr. Victor Yao Dablo noted that the government has currently employed several Agric Extension Officer and trained them to provide support services to farmers on Agricultural best practices.

He appealed to all who were owing government on farm inputs such as maize, fertilizer, etc. on the PFJ to speedily try and make payment.

In all the overall best farmer went to a 48 years old Daniel Kofi Owusu from Buasu. He was presented with a motor king, knapsack sprayer, GTP cloth, wellington boots, and other prices.

The 1st and 2nd runner up went to Mr. Tweneboah Koduah Emmanuel and Mr. Collins Kwabena Owusu respectively. They all took away some agricultural inputs to aide their farm work.