Focus on making agriculture more attractive

Hemang (Ash) Jan 16, GNA - The 2009 Kwabre District Best Farmer has appealed to the Government to make agriculture attractive and rewarding. Nana Kwabena Abebrese said bottlenecks in marketing and high interest rates on agricultural loans for example needed to be tackled with urgency.

Making the appeal through the Ghana news Agency at Mamponteng, he said this was necessary if the Youth in Agriculture Project was to succeed. He said given the right policy interventions, the youth could be motivated to take to farming and halt the rural-urban drift. Nana Abebrese, 48, and a traditional priest, owns 70 acres each of maize and oranges, 40 acres of cocoa, 50 acres each of Sorghum, Palm trees and cowpeas, eight acres of cassava and plantain and 36,000 teak trees.

Added to these are a number of goats, ducks, and birds. He said it was also important to make it easier for young people who show interest in farming to acquire land. This demands the creation of land banks by the central Government and the District Assemblies. 16 Jan 10