Cotton farmers in the three northern regions of Ghana have been called upon to take advantage of the new producer prices for seed cotton and increase production.
Kuoru Kuri Limann, Interim chairman of the Cotton Farmers Association (CFA) made the call at Tamale after the farmers had successfully negotiated with the cotton purchasing companies for acceptable prices for this year.
The negotiation team, comprising directors of the 11 cotton companies and the interim executive committee of CFA, agreed on 1,650 cedis per kilo of grade "A" seed cotton and 1,320 cedis for grade "B" up from the previous 900 cedis and 700 cedis for the two grades.
Kuoru Limann who is the Paramount Chief of the Gwallu Traditional Area in the Upper West Region, urged the farmers not to divert inputs provided them by the companies for the production of other crops.
He also cautioned them against selling seed cotton to other companies that did not provide them financial support.
The interim chairman called on the companies to supply high yielding seeds to the farmers.
"Very often, you give us seeds that are rotten and when we plant them, we experience poor germination, leading to poor yield" he said.
He said farmers should also be educated on the proper application of fertilizers and pesticides and the disposal of containers to minimise the health hazard posed through mishandling of the chemicals.
Mr Patrick Apula, secretary of the CFA, asked cotton development officers to release inputs to farmers at the right time and ensure that these are not diverted
