Gov't Urged to Establish Cashew-Marketing Company

Cashew farmers at Agyina, a farming community in the Kintampo District, have appealed to the government to establish a marketing company to purchase their produce to enhance the cultivation of the crop.

Mr Opoku Agyeman, a spokesman for the farmers, made the appeal at a meeting to discuss how best to address their marketing, credit and other problems.

He noted that at each harvest season the farmers are faced with a problem of marketing, adding that some of the farms were burnt during the last Harmattan season because the farmers were unable to weed them due to financial problems.

Mr Agyeman urged the banks to provide the farmers with credit to enable them to maintain their farms and to increase productivity.

He also urged agricultural extension officers to visit the area to give the farmers technical advice to enhance their activities.

There are about 20 cashew farmers in the area and they have cultivated more than 100 hectares of the crop.

Meanwhile, groundnut farmers at Yapare, another farming community in the Atebubu District, have appealed to the district assembly to provide them with loans under the Emergency Social Relief Fund to enable them to maintain and expand their farms.

Miss Afia Kruwah, a spokesman, told the Ghana News Agency that the farmers were finding it difficult to get credit to hire labourers to help them on their farms.

Women in the area are mainly engaged in groundnut farming, while the men cultivate yams on a large scale, she said, but added that, "without labourers we cannot do much".

Miss Kruwah said the farmers had organised themselves into groups to secure credit from the banks but all their efforts had been unsuccessful.