The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku is urging farmers in Northern Ghana to take advantage of government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development PERD initiative. Mr. Issahaku said the program provides farmers with an opportunity to improve the financial status through the cultivation of cash crops.
The Deputy Minister added that because crops planted under the program are perennial crops, farmers can transfer their farms to the children as is done with cocoa farms in southern Ghana.
“When you go to the south, people have cocoa farms and the cocoa farms are handed over from generation to generation. In the north, we do annual crops; we do not have any permanent tree plantation that we can bequeath to our children and grandchildren. We all know that if you are a farmer, you will certainly grow old; you will not continue to have the strength to do your annual crop production. When you grow old and you can no longer go to the farm who do you depend on?” he quizzed.
Mr. Chinnia Issahaku added that for farmers “to be able to depend on your own strength when you are young and when you are old, there is a need for a paradigm shift”. He said farmers need to reorient themselves and know that there are viable economic opportunities in tree crop cultivation.
The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku said government has committed huge resources to ensuring the success of the program and stressed the need for farmers taking part in the program to follow expert advice in the proper cultivation of the crops.
He shared these sentiments when the Wa East District took its turn at the Meet the Press series at Funsi. The event at Funsi was the 7th in the series.
The Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) is a national agricultural program geared towards the promotion of rural economic growth and improving household incomes through the cultivation of tree crops.
In the Wa East District, farmers are focusing on the cultivation of cashew. Since its launch by the President last year, 123,420 cashew seedlings have been distributed to farmers across 65 communities in the Wa East District. The seedlings have been planted on a total of 3,086 acres.
The DCE for Wa East, Moses Jotie announced that the number of farmers who signed up for the Planting for Food and Jobs Program (PFJ) had increased from 3,997 to 4,515 this year while the total number of acreage also increased from 21,198 hectares to 35,567 hectares this year.
Yields also increased from 5,652 metric tonnes to 7,534 metric tonnes in 2018.
Mr. Jotie expressed confidence that at the end of harvest this year, a higher yield would be recorded than that of last year.
The DCE said to ensure that farmers in the Wa East District continue to enjoy improved services, a number of projects have been undertaken by the Assembly.
They include the completion of work on District Agriculture offices at Funsi “which is about 98 percent complete”, the construction of a warehouse at Bulenga “which is at the painting stage” and the construction of another warehouse at Funsi.
He said the contractor is currently moulding blocks and promised that work would soon begin.
On Rearing for Food and Jobs, Mr. Jotie mentioned that 92 farmers were registered under the program. Fifty sheep and 42 cockerels have subsequently been distributed to the farmers.
Story filed by Mark Smith
