<<Print>>

Mr Ivan Akutteh, the New Abirim Agriculture Director has called on government to provide storage facilities such as Improved Narrow Ventilated Crib, silos, and grain dryers to beneficiary farmers of the government’s ‘planting for food and jobs’ programme.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview (GNA), he said the provision of those storage facilities would enable farmers cultivate their produce on a large scale to generate more income for them.

He mentioned that his outfit at the beginning of the programme registered 147 farmers in the district and out of that only 60 of them had so far received the improved maize seedlings excluding the fertilizers.

Mr Akutteh said his department is yet to receive the fertilizers from the Ministry of Foods and Agriculture (MOFA) to be distributed to those beneficiaries in the area.

Most of the farmers, he noted had already started planting on their own due to the delay of farm inputs to the Agriculture office and may not be able to hit their targets.

He said the Agriculture Department was still registering farmers for the minor season and therefore entreated all farmers to visit any Agriculture Office for registration.

Mr Akutteh noted that there were inadequate staff and logistics to carry out the programme and therefore requested for more recruits from the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) to support the few Extension Officers on the field.

He therefore pleaded with the government to provide the necessary logistics such as motor bikes to Extension Officers to enable them carry out their duties effectively.