Farmers appeal for agric subsidies

Some award winners at this year's Volta Regional Farmers Day celebration have appealed to government to subsidize farm inputs

to help improve production and sustain the industry.

“The lack of subsidy on inputs, lack of credit facility and market for farm produce is making farming difficult for us and not appealing to our children”, Mr Nganasin Thamabor, the 46-year-old Volta Regional Best Farmer told the GNA.

Mr. Thamabor, father of six from Kpasa in the Nkwanta District took home two full pieces of cloth, a bicycle, a sewing machine, a corn mill, a spraying machine and a certificate.

He has 15 acres of groundnut, 13 acres of yam, 30 acres of maize, 15 acres of cashew, 8 acres of rice, 5 acres of soya bean and 3 acres of oil palm and several livestocks.

Mr Thamabor lamented that in his 14 years of farming, he had never benefited from any credit facility, a situation he described as “very worrying”.

He dedicated the award to his five permanent employees and appealed to government to show more commitment to agriculture and invest in the sector.

Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf expressed regret that, notwithstanding the significant role played by agriculture in the country's economy, the sector was yet to achieve its full potentials.

He attributed this to the continuous reliance on very simple implements and tools for agricultural production and pledged government's resolve to help improve the sector.

Mr Dzamesi said a number of infrastructural projects were ongoing in the region towards the development of agriculture.

In all, 22 other people including institutions in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District and the Region were awarded for having emerged winners in different categories.

Source: GNA