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AGRICULTURE

3,997 Farmers employed in Wa East under Planting for Food and Jobs

The government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme directly employed 3,997 farmers in the Wa East District in the Upper West Region in 2017

Date Created : 12/6/2017 3:27:55 AM : Story Author : Rosemary Afua Obeng Yeboah

These beneficiary farmers produced various quantities of food crops from 4,847 hectares of farmland to contribute to the national food supply for the year.

The Chief Executive for the district, Moses Jotie, said the programme – which was boosted by the supply of subsidised fertiliser to farmers – had been embraced by young farmers as an employment and serious income-generating source in the district.

Addressing farmers and a cross section of society at the district’s Farmers Day event at Loggu, Mr Jotie said government’s supply of warehousing facilities in the various districts had saved farmers from the annual ritual of post-harvest losses.

He said while the inadequacy and sometimes unavailability of warehouses cost farmers their expected income due to post-harvest losses, the warehouse and the receipt system introduced by the National Buffer Stock Company had proven to be an important intervention.

“The system affords farmers the opportunity to store their produce in licensed warehouses after which a receipt is issued. The receipt can then be used as basis for securing a loan from a bank. Farmers can also sell their produce at a convenient date to retain a decent return on investment,” he explained.

“This, therefore, reduces exploitation of our farmers by middlemen who buy the produce at very low prices,” he added.

He, however, lamented the negative impact of human activities, including logging and bush burning, which were fast depleting the region’s vegetation cover, and said his office would establish and maintain mango and woodlot plantations in selected communities to mitigate the situation.

There was an exhibition of different farm produce and livestock at the event, which had traditional rulers and vaious groups in attendance.

The event, which celebrates farmers across the country, was held at the national level in Kumasi without the usual corresponding events at the regional level.

In the Upper West Region, the district assemblies held individual events to honour local farmers.