Mr John Kwamina Gyimah, the Western Regional Director of Agriculture, says the Department is putting in place pragmatic measures to promote an agricultural production that will attract the youth and investors to create a synergy for economic stability in the Region.
To that end, he said the Department had partnered with some private organizations to acquire about 3,000 acres of land as part of initial steps to make land acquisition easier for the youth and prospective farmers to venture into agricultural production.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, at Sekondi, he said the move was part of a sustainable agricultural legacy project that sought to alleviate poverty and hunger, and create employment through improved technologies, and innovative and efficient farming systems.
Mr Gyimah said the Department’s target was to promote an agricultural system that would leverage emerging technologies to enhance sustainability and increase yield to help cover the demand deficits in both crop and animal productions in the Region.
He said: “As the Regional Director of Agriculture, my aim is to leave a legacy that will benefit our people in both the medium and long term, and I believe that we have all the necessary resources to leverage sustainable agriculture to create wealth for the people, especially the youth.”
According to him: “We have spoken to leaders of some Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) who have bought into the idea, and some people have already shown interest in acquiring a portion of the land to venture into agriculture as a long-term investment.”
On how to build a strong domestic economy in the region with a focus on agriculture, the Western Regional Director of Agriculture indicated that there was the need for farmers to adopt modern methods of farming, establish dedicated markets in farming zones and implement stringent mechanisms to deal with post-harvest loses.
Explaining why farmers did not have access to enough financial support, Mr Gyimah said, “Risks associated with farming such as unpredictable weather conditions, soil factors, inadequate plant nutrition, diseases which affects yield, cash flow and also production periods may not be in consonance with loan recoveries of traditional financial facilities.”
He also attributed the problem to other factors like shared cropping, land litigation and illegal mining activities, saying all these affected farmers’ potential to attract legitimate financial facilities for increased production.
He, therefore, advised farmers to establish proper records of their cash flow with recognized financial institutions, have appropriate valuation of their farming venture, including equipment, implements, production acreages, status of yield values, staff expertise, land ownership and tenure.
That, Mr Gyimah noted, would help farmers to attract the needed financial support to spur their businesses.
He also appealed to financial institutions to engage the farmers extensively and equip them with some level of agro-expertise and economic management skills to help broaden their knowledge on how to access credit facilities to expand their productions.
