Fertilizer input dealers in the Sissala EastDistrict of the Upper West Region have expressed concern about difficulties in getting articulator trucks toconveying their input from Tema to Tumu and other food-producing areas.
The dealers told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Tuesday that it was becoming impossible to convey inputs ordered from Tema to Tumu, Gwollu and other destinations nowadays because of the deplorable nature of the Sissala enclave roads.
Mr Sule Issifu, owner of Season Plus, an input dealer, told the GNA that he paid for two articulator trucks to bring his goodsbut it was getting to two weeks without any sign of delivery.
“The challenge they tell me is that most of the trucks detest coming down here due to the bad nature of the roads. It’s affecting my sales as my customers are running away and others harassing me for their inputs,” he said.
Mr Sule indicated that the fertilizer application was time bound and once farmers paid up and did notget the goods it brought about conflict.
He said the sad aspect was that articulator owners would collect their monies but played the “delay tactics with us.”
Mr Abdulai Dakui of the Dakui Farms Enterprise expressed how frustrating it had been,saying he bought a truck load of fertilizer from Tema and it took four weeks before it got to Tumu.
“We hear most of the articulators prefer to load to Burkina-Faso, Mali and Niger because they stand to make more money from the rise in CFA currency than the Ghana cedi,” he said.
“The painful aspect is that we pay GH¢30.00per bag of 50kg fertilizer from Tema to Tumu and this runs to GH¢30,000 for 1,000 bags, even that it takes weeks to get a truck loaded, something needs to be done.”
Mr Mutal Fuseini,who operates Paapa Enterprise at Pulima in the Sissala West District, said: “For the past 11 days the absence of trucks made me short of supplies. For those 11 days, I could have sold five articulator loads of fertilizer, but I am still hoping my transporter gets a truck,if not farmers hoping to apply fertilizer on their crops may be affected.”
Alhaji Mohammed Daab, the CEO of ModabEnterprise, complained that from the beginning of the year, a truckload of fertilizer from Tema to Tumu cost GH¢22.00 per bag but that it had beenincreased to GH¢ 30.00 and had further been increased to GH¢32.00 just two days ago.
He stressed the need for some of the input such as fertilizer to be brought closer to the northern part of Ghana in bulk for the dealers to pick them upfor farmers.
“Buying a good truck like an articulator costs about GH¢800,000.00 and that’s expensive for a lot of business people like me. Even when you talk to the banks, you don’t get the support….”
In Gwollu, Mr Abu Gommie, CEO of Abu Shaib Company Ltd, an input dealer, said: “I have paid for some quantity of truck of fertilizer in Tema, but there are no trucks to load and bring them to Gwollu and my farmers are getting angry with me.”
Mr Mahama Salifu, the Sissala East Municipal Directorof Agriculture,empathized with the dealers and expressed the hope that the Sissala enclave roads would be done to address the transportation problem.
