Farmers urged to regard their trade as business

Oppong Mensah-Aborampah, of the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP), on Wednesday urged farmers to regard farming as business and adopt the appropriate business altitude towards it.
He explained that, it is only through good practices that farmers could benefit financially from their activities and agriculture would play the expected role in the drastic reduction of poverty in the country.
Dr Mensah-Aborampah was speaking at the end of a three-day workshop for selected personnel involved in the root and tuber value chain processing business and marketing from Fanteakwa, Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar, Birim Central, Birim North, New Juaben and Asuogyaman Districts all in the Eastern Region in Koforidua.
The participants include farmers, drivers, traders, chop bar operators, small- scale gari manufacturers and agricultural extension agents.
The workshop was aimed at upgrading the skills of the participants to enable them to adopt modern business practices in their operations.
Dr Mensah-Aborampah said the workshop formed part of a project being organized by the RTIMP with funding from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana.
He said the project had a financial component under which the beneficiaries with the requisite business plan and a contribution of 10 per cent, could access a grant of 30 per cent and then supported to raise a loan of 60 per cent from commercial banks for the expansion of their businesses.