MOFA urges farmers to go beyond Roots and Tuber production

A day's stakeholders forum aimed at promoting stakeholders association information and establishing commodity chain linkages within the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Project(RTIMP) has been held in the Techiman Municipality in Brong-Ahafo.

The forum, which was organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), with support from government and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), attracted 100 participants in the agricultural sector.

Addressing the forum, Mr. John Manu, Techiman Municipal Director of Agriculture said the new root and tuber improvement project goes beyond production to include value addition and marketing of agricultural products.

Mr. Manu said farmers over the years had faced the problem of marketing their products and that the new project would seek to address the problem and equip farmers with the needed skills to market their products.

He disclosed that new varieties of cassava such as Afisiafi, Nkabom and Bankyihemaa with capacity to yield 12-14 tonnes per acre have been cultivated in some demonstration farms in the municipality.

He named the areas as Offuman, Fiaso, Tanoso, Nkweaso, Amorowa, Mangoase and Tanoboase among others and urged farmers in the areas to contact the agricultural extension officers for the new varieties.

Mr. Osei Asibey, Zone 'two' Coordinator of RTIMP said the goal of the project is to enhance income and security to improve livelihood of the rural poor and to build a market based system to ensure profitability at all levels of the chain.

Mr. Asibey said as a result of the RTIMP, cassava production in Ghana rose sharply from 5.7 million tonnes in 1991 to 12.8 million tonnes in 2006 and hinted that 180,000 farmers would be supplied with new root and tuber varieties to enhance production and increase revenues at farm levels.

Madam Veronica Dzreka, Techiman Municipal Capacity Building and Linkage Officer of RTIMP was hopeful that by the end of the eight year programme, the projects would be sustained and entreated farmers to form groups to enable them benefit from training programmes and loans under the project.

Mr. Seth Arthur, Credit Coordinator of Procredit Bank said that his outfit had established its presence in Brong-Ahafo and had over the past nine months granted agro-loans ranging from 50 million cedis to 1.5 billion cedis to farmers in the region.

Mr. Arthur asked the farmers to take advantage of the presence of Procredit as over 90 per cent of their clients had received loans in areas of poultry, general farming and agricultural machinery among others.

Mr. Hayman Sandor, Marketing Manager in charge of Cassava for VEGA Limited, revealed that his company would soon establish a cassava processing company in Techiman and therefore asked farmers to liaise with the company to ensure the success of the factory.

Nana Owusu Gyare II, Akwamehene of the Techiman Traditional Area, who presided, was optimistic that farmers in the municipality would take advantage of RTIMP to enhance their livelihood and improve food security.

Nana Gyare appealed to Ghanaians to reduce their taste for imported food and patronise local food to encourage farmers to produce more.