Government to import 1,000 tractors for farmers

Asubone Rails (E/R), July 29, GNA - The government is to import 1,000 Ford tractors from India for distribution to farmers throughout the country to promote mechanised farming and also to assist in carting agricultural produce from the hinterland to marketing centres.

Mr. Kwadwo Agyei-Darko, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, announced this on Saturday at the inauguration of the local branch of the Agriculture Producers' Council (APC) at Asubone Rail, near Nkawkaw in the Kwahu South District.

He said the government had initiated a number of programmes such as the mass cocoa spraying exercise and the President's Special Initiatives on Cassava and Oil Palm to assist farmers to increase their yields to earn enough income to improve their living standards.

Mr Agyei-Darko announced that the Council, in collaboration with the Local Government Ministry, would establish a market at Baatsona in Accra, to enable members to sell their produce direct to consumers at affordable prices.

He urged scientists and industrialists to establish small-scale and cottage industries to process some of the foodstuffs for preservation to reduce post-harvest losses.

The Secretary General of the APC, Mr Samuel Ohene Kontoh, said the Council was formed to solve the numerous problems facing farmers and appealed to the Ministry for the supply of building materials on credit to the farmers to rehabilitate their buildings.

He advised the members to ensure effective utilization of credit facilities and also to ensure prompt repayment for others to also benefit.

Mr Kontoh attributed the spread of the HIV/AIDS to poverty and urged the Ghana AIDS Commission to give part of the funds it was disbursing to organisations to fight the disease to farmers to advance their farming activities to reduce poverty and hunger.