News:
December 5, 2011
Mr. Haruna Bayirgah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala West, has said the cost of tractors is too high and unaffordable by poor farmers, hence the low agricultural productivity among farmers in the northern part of the country.
He said agriculture would continue to record low growth, with high incidence of food insecurity unless the government took a critical look at the cost of agricultural machinery as farmers would have to abandon the use of the hoe and cutlass as their main implement.
Mr. Bayirgah said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during the 27th Regional Farmers Day celebration at Gwollu in the Sissala West District.
He said the government was selling tractors to farmers at a cost of 18,000 Ghana cedis and that for farmers in the north before the tractors reached their destination, the cost normally increased to 20,000 Ghana cedis.
He said that price was rather on the high side and vulnerable farmers who had the passion for farming could not afford such money to enable them to acquire a tractor to expand their farms.
Mr. Bayirgah appealed to the government to consider bringing tractor manufacturing companies to Ghana to establish their factories, while at the same time waiving the taxes on those factories to encourage them to produce more tractors at an affordable cost for local farmers.
The Sissala West MP appealed to farmers in the Region to change their obsolete farming practices and embrace modern methods to control climate change and enhance food production.
Mr. Bayirgah advised people in the Region to remain united and not to allow political differences to divide them and nurture hatred among them.
A 54-year-old farmer, Mr. Sulemani Sumaila from Bullu, was adjudged the overall best Regional farmer.
GNA