The District Director for Agriculture in the Kwabre East District, Mr. S. K. Semekor has expressed worry about the future of agriculture in the district with the ageing of the farmers.

He said statistics available to his outfit has it that most of the farmers are the aged and only a handful of the youth are into agriculture. He said if no action is taken to remedy the situation, in some few years to come, the district would be faced with food drought and would have to depend on food produced from other districts.

Mr. Semekor made this known at the 29th edition of the National Farmers’ Day celebration in the district at Dumanafo, under the theme, “Reducing Post Harvest Losses For Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition”.

He therefore appealed to the youth in the district to consider venturing into agriculture because of its enormous benefits.
He said agriculture now has become lucrative and beneficial to most farmers especially the youth who have committed themselves diligently for that course.

He also appealed to them to consider for instance cassava production since it has now become a hottest commodity for most industries in the country, adding that the location of the district put them ahead of other cassava farmers in the region since they are very near to great industries that require cassava in large quantities for production, citing a starch processing firm in Mampong and the famous Kumasi Brewery in Kumasi as examples.

He also appealed to chiefs in the district to readily make lands available to those who are interested in farming since the issue about lands is also reducing the growth of agriculture in the district.

The District Chief Executive, Adams Iddisah also urged the farmers not to relent on their efforts. He stated that government will do all it takes to make farming very lucrative in the country. He said the Assembly is liaising with the Agriculture Department to find lasting solution to post harvest losses by way of investing in storage facilities.

For his part, the Member of Parliament for the constituency, Mr. Kofi Frimpong appealed to the government to continue with the policy of subsidizing the prices for fertilizer and as a matter of urgency find a lasting solution to those who illegally send some to neighbouring countries to sell them for cheaper prices.

Awards were given to deserving farmers with Mr. Akwasi Annor emerging the 2013 overall best farmer in the district.

They received awards such as cutlasses, wellington boots, soaps, day old chicks, television sets, fridges, bicycles, radios and others.

Dominic Shirimori/Francis Andoh/Ghanadistricts.com