More farmers cultivate maize, rice in Upper West Region

Jirapa, UWR, Dec. 8, GNA - A total of 1,303 farmers in the Upper West Region have cultivated 2,754.9 acres of maize and rice, this year, under the Expanded Crop Production Programme (ECPP).

 
The Programme covered all the nine districts which have comparative advantage in maize and rice production to help boost food production and to enhance food security in the region.    

 
Mr. Emmanuel D. Eledi, Regional Director of Agriculture, who announced this at this year's Farmer Day celebration at Jirapa, said they hope to create buffer stocks for times of hunger and famine.

 
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has worked out a number of strategies to help unearth the untapped agricultural potentials of the region to enhance higher productivity and improve livelihoods of farmers in the communities.

 
Mr. Eledi said livestock production had also improved under the Livestock Development Project, which has provided livestock owners with improved stocks of  ruminants, such as sheep, goats, and cattle to upgrade and enlarge their local breed for increased incomes.

 
He said the project has a 'Credit in Kind' component in which ruminants are provided on credit to farmers and they pay back in the form of offspring to other farmers.

 
He announced that the region's annual fish production for last year was only 2,117 metric tonnes, with a deficit of 10,383 metric tones.

 
Farmers have, therefore, been introduced to fish farming in addition to fish capture technology to supplement the protein requirements of the people.

 
Mr. Eledi warned farmers whose farms were on low land areas to move to high lands before the next rainy season to avoid the flood disasters that they experienced the two previous seasons.

GNA