Mr Agyeman Kodom, the Chairman of Amoma Cashew and Mango Farmers Association has appealed to government to devote more resources to promote agriculture in the country.
He said the contribution of the government to promoting agriculture could not be underestimated, because the government’s effort in supporting the sector had been the key driving force underlying contributions farmers made for national economic growth.
But more could be done for the farming industry to thrive better and be more attractive by government through abundant and affordable availability of fertilizers and other farming inputs in the market, the Chairman said.
Mr Kodom made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Amoma, a farming community in the Kintampo South District of the Bono East Region, saying cashew and mango production were key areas the government could invest in hugely since their market demand, both locally and internationally were high.
He commended the government for initiating a GHC5.00 price per kilogramme of cashew last year, saying ‘it helped us a lot and if that initiative is applied to other crops, it will greatly reduce our cost of production to guarantee us reasonable profits’.
”Hitherto there was nothing like that, so during the rainy season, the price dropped to as low as GHC1.00 or GHC2.00 per a kilogramme, and in that case, we are not able to go to the farms with our labourers because we can’t afford the labour cost and therefore run at a loss because the cashew fruits rot and germinate again”, Mr Kodom lamented.
By Benjamin Akoto, GNA
