On Farmers Day: Prioritization Of Agric Mechanization Is More Important

To boost food security by ensuring increased production, there is the critical need to mechanize Ghana's agricultural sector to better the lot of farmers.

The National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG), that is making this proposal to government believe that mechanization of Agric is the surest bet for sustainable food production and food security.

According to Mr Davies Korboe, Chairman of NFFAWAG, who made the call at the 9th National Farmers' Forum in Tamale on Thursday, mechanization of agriculture in the country would further boost government's agricultural programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).

The forum, which was organized with support from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) as part of this year's National Farmers' Day celebration being held in Tamale today Friday, December 7, brought together farmers and policy-makers to stimulate discussions towards improving the agricultural sector.

Mr Korboe said the continued reliance on hoes and cutlasses for farming was not the best to make the sector the game-changer of the country's economy.

He suggested that 'commercial farmers should be well targeted under the PFJ to produce efficiently to feed industries, whiles smallholder farmers take care of food security' to help develop the economy.

Dr Sagre Bambangi, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in-charge of Annual Crops, said government was embarking on revival of Agricultural Mechanization and Services Centres to ensure availability of appropriate machinery and equipment for farmers to enhance agricultural production.

Dr Bambangi said government was committed to making agriculture attractive to all by implementing various agricultural programmes including PFJ and one-district one warehouse to increase production.

Dr John Kofi Mensah, Managing Director of ADB, assured farmers that 'ADB remains your bank of choice as far as agricultural financing is concerned and we have cemented this by the establishment of two departments (Agric Finance and Agric Value Chain) to meet the special needs of players across the agricultural value chain'

Dr Mensah added that ADB would continue to develop and roll out products and services targeted at providing funding to meet the needs of farmers and fishers in the country.

---GNA