Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle has pledged support for the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is voted into power.
He said although farmers played a critical role in feeding the nation, they were confronted with a lot of challenges, including the absence of basic farm tools and subsidies which adversely impacted on their activities.
Mr Buah was addressing the PFAG and smallholder vegetable farmers in the Nzema-East, Ellembelle and Jomoro Municipalities at a capacity building and strategic partnership workshop on Agroecology and sustainable farming at Ampain in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.
The workshop, funded by the 11th Hour Foundation in the United States, was a follow-up to a day’s practical training on a vegetable demonstration farm by an Agroecology farmer, Mr John Ackah, at Nvellenu in the Jomoro Municipality.
Mr Buah acknowledged the immense contributions of farmers towards the socio-
economic development of the nation and said the next NDC government would make farming attractive to lure the youth to venture into Agriculture.
The MP, who is also the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, said he supported several youths to go into fish-farming, animal husbandry and vegetable farming, among others.
He assured the farmers of his continuous support to boost agricultural practices in the area to ensure food security and sufficiency.
Mr Buah donated fertilizers, and other farming inputs and some cash to the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana.
Mr Wopeia Addo Awal Adugwala, the President of the Peasant Farmers Association, said the workshop would afford farmers the opportunity to make use of limited lands available for sustainable farming practices, such as organic farming and climate smart agriculture, especially with most of the farmlands in the Nzema area being grabbed for oil and gas activities as well as real estate projects.
He said there were lots of local materials farmers could us
e as organic fertilizers on their farmlands and avoid dangerous agro-chemicals.
Mr Awal Adugwala said though inflation was dropping, food inflation in the country was still high, a little over 26 per cent, so the training of farmers to engage in productive farming services to produce abundant foodstuffs to feed the nation.
He said the PFAG has an Agroecology hub in the Techiman area where farmers were taken through practical training.
Mr Awal Adugwala said irrigation systems were needed on the farmlands for an all-year round productivity and appealed for financial support to the farmers.
He called on the government to pay more attention to smallholder farmers and invest in their activities.
Mr Bismark Owusu Nortey, the Executive Director of PFAG, said the Association wanted to transition from the use of chemicals, pesticides and other Agro-chemicals in farming to organic manuring and other Agroecology practices.
He said most Agricultural policies did not favour farmers and asked them to unite and speak
with a unified voice for the government to address their concerns.
Mr Nortey advised farmers to avoid the burning of their farmlands all the time as micro and macro-organisms which increased the fertility of the soil were destroyed by such practices.
He said the PFAG would continue to engage the farmers to build their capacities for training their peers.
Mr Carol Pius Senker, the Ellembelle District Director of Agriculture underscored the significant contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product and local index of the district, saying about 61,647 farmers representing 44.9 per cent of the entire workforce, were engaged in the sector.
Mr Senker also noted that though the food inflation rate in Ghana stood at 28.6 per cent, prices of food commodities kept on skyrocketing.
He appealed to farmers and the Agricultural sector to double up efforts to bring the exorbitant food prices down, stressing the need for a ready market for farmers, so that their harvests would not go to waste.
Source: Ghana
News Agency