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AGRICULTURE

Town Council chairman appeals to the Govt to fight bushfires like galamsey

Hon. Iddrisu Yussif, Chairman of Badu Town Council, Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region has appealed to the government to take the fight against bushfires very seriously. He mentioned that districts and communities within the savannah belt experience perennial problems of bushfires due to predisposed environmental factors coupled with human activities.

Date Created : 2/5/2018 1:25:10 AM : Story Author : Ghanadistricts.com

He said one of the major causes of bush fires within the area is hunting by some unscrupulous groups and individuals from the Wenchi Municipality. The chairman made the call during an interaction with the media at the council’s first quarter meeting in Badu on Tuesday 30th January, 2018.

”In 2017 for example, there were over 1,000 acres of food like maize, cassava and plantain and cash crops like cashew were lost to bush fires in Badu and others parts of Tain District which rendered most farmers poorer” Mr. Yussif noted. He therefore appeals to the government to take the fight against bush fires very serious as the fight against galamsey.

He called on the government to form a joint task force among the security agencies especially the Military, Police and the Ghana National Fire Service to patrol most farming communities to avert the situation.

The Chairman observed that the government has initiated operation vanguard to fight galamsey within certain parts of the country to save the environment especially water bodies and farm lands and in his estimation, such seriousness should be attached to the menace of bush fires since it also destroys the environment and the livelihoods of several people in Tain especially Badu and its surrounding communities every year.

He added that if the government’s policy to ensure sustainable agricultural development could be materialized, the fight against bush fires should be made a national security threat. This he explained that most farmers go through economic and psychological hardships due the effects of bush fires.

Mr Yussif indicated that, the Badu Town Council is collaborating with the Tain District Assembly to bring development to the door steps of the people, specifically in the area of education, agriculture and industrialization.

He added that the council is ready to liaise with the traditional leadership of Badu to make available the required piece of land to support the One District, One Factory policy in the Tain district.