E.T. Mensah urges protection of farm lands

Accra, Nov. 13, GNA - Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, on Thursday called on traditional rulers to protect farm lands in order to save the agricultural sector. Mr Mensah noted that most farmlands had been sold out to estate developers depriving people from acquiring land for agriculture. "We must stop paying lip-service to agriculture and encourage our traditional rulers to protect our farm lands. Farmers at Dawhwenya have been thrown out of business, their lands have taken over by estate developers," he pointed out.

He made the request at the handing over of a three-bedroom furnished house to Mr Mohammed Tetteh Akpah, the 2006 National Best Farmer, at a ceremony in Prampram in the Greater Accra Region. The former Youth and Sports Minister noted that land near the Dawhwenya Irrigation Authority was gradually being sold out and appealed to MOFA to protect that area.

"Land near the Weija is gone and the Dawhwenya Irrigation Authority is gradually going; MOFA must act quickly to save those lands from being sold." Mr Mensah commended MOFA for providing tractors to farmers but appealed to the ministry to set up mechanisation service centres for the tractors and provide another irrigation system to ensure that farmers produced all year round.

He further urged the Ministry to address problems facing fishermen saying, fishermen were working at a loss with the advent of pair trawling. "If we able to stand to the challenges in the agriculture sector, Ghana can feed itself and feed other nations," he said.