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Government Initiates New Agriculture
Programme for Upper East
Navrongo (U/E), July 12, Ghanadot/GNA – Government has
initiated a new agriculture programme for the people of the
Upper East Region as part of measures to pre-empt likely
food insecurity in the region.
The programme, which for now would be centred on rice
production, is already underway at Gbedembilsi a farming
community in the Builsa District.
It was initially targeted to cover 1,200 hectares of
farmland but was later reduced to 400 hectares following
delays in this year’s rains.
Under the programme, farmers are to enjoy free advisory
services from agricultural experts drawn mainly from the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture, MOFA, the main body
charged to man it.
The Ministry has already prepared the land and supplied rice
seeds on gratis to the selected farmers which have so far
germinated.
About 60 farmer groups of five members each from Builsa,
Kassena-Nankana and Bolgatanga districts are to benefit from
the maiden programme.
The Acting Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, Mr.
Francis Dery, disclosed this on Thursday when the Upper East
Regional Minister, Mr. Alhassan Samari paid a working visit
to the farms to acquaint himself with progress so far made
on the new programme.
Mr. Dery indicated that the programme used 500 bags of rice
seeds valued at about 25,000 Ghana cedis, adding that the
selected farmers were only to ensure that the needed care
was given to the crops at their early stage because rain-fed
rice production needed little attention.
He said about 250,000 tons of rice is expected from the
farms by December when the season would end which invariably
could cater for the rice needs of the people in the region
to augment the food situation in the area.
The Regional Minister urged the farmers to, as a matter of
urgency, create fire belts around the farm to prevent any
fire outbreak when the dry season sets in by November.
He said the food insecurity situation is a global phenomenon
which governments everywhere were battling with and that the
new programme was part of the government’s prudent policy
initiatives to ensure that there was sufficient food
available in the region.
He said government was ready to explore avenues in finding
lasting solution to the food situation in the region and
recalled last year’s devastating floods that almost grounded
farming activities and urged the farmers to contribute their
part to ensure the success of the programme.
The Assemblyman for the area, Mr. Braimah Abdulai Yeji,
praised government for the programme and said it had always
been the dream of farmers in the area to have such support
programmes, adding that since Acheampong’s government was
overthrown in the 1970s, no government had shown such a
responsibility to farmers.
He appealed to government to work out modalities to
construct an irrigable dam in the Fumbisi valleys to
encourage more of the youth in the area to go into farming.
GNA
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