UCOM registers 900 farmers under the NHIS

Accra, Nov 30, GNA - Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) of the University College of Management Studies (UCOMS), have registered about 900 farmers of Tomefa Community in the Greater Accra Region under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

This formed part of SIFE-UCOMS projects “Tomefa Development Project” aimed at improving the quality of life and the standard of living of the people of Tomefa community.

This was contained in statement issued to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday in Accra.

In 1979, the construction of the Weija Dam led to a farming village called Tomefa, almost submerged under water, now an island.

The people in the community have been living below the poverty line with high rate of illiteracy and lack basic social amenities.

The statement said the project had introduced green house technology, where many farmers in the community had been trained on how to use modern farming technologies for productivity.

It said this had helped to increase income of farm entrepreneurs from in 2010 to 5 in 2011 representing 77.1 per cent increase.

It said the project had also adopted the concept of agro-tourism to market the island to potential investors, which had generated about ,100 from tourist visits and it was projected to increase to ,989 by 2013.

The statement added that SIFE-UCOMS had partnered Ghana Water Aid and other governmental agencies to provide the island with treated water to alleviate the high rate of bilharzias disease in the community.

GNA