Government to import 2,000 tractors for farmers

Nkoranza (BAR), May 16, GNA - Government has ordered 2,000 tractors for farmers throughout the country to increase production of food, Vice President John Dramani Mahama has announced.

He said 1,000 of the tractors which would be imported from Brazil and the same number from India would be sold to farmers who would be expected to pay 70 per cent of the cost by instalments for three years, while the government bear the remaining 30 per cent.

"I know as individuals it will be quite difficult for you to buy the tractors and I will therefore plead with you to form co-operatives to attract assistance from financial institutions to purchase the tractors." The Vice President Mahama announced these when he paid a courtesy call on Nana Okatakyie Kudom-Agyemang IV, Paramount Chief of Nkoranza as part of his two-day official visit the Brong Ahafo Region.

He also visited Nyinase and Akuropong, farming communities in the Nkoranza District where he donated relief items to fire and storm victims. Vice President Mahama also addressed an Islamic Education Unit annual conference at Sunyani and the 25th Anniversary of Mid-West Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Municipality.

He said the provision of the tractors was in fulfilment of government's pledge to make the country an exporter of food crops, rather than a perennial importer of foodstuff such as rice and maize. He said the country this year experienced some surplus in rice and maize production, which the World Food Programme was now shipping to Niger and other needy countries they were operating.

Vice President Mahama said government was committed to help double the production of food to achieve the country's target of exporting food to many more African countries. He said government had identified bad roads and marketing as a major hindrance to food production and would do everything possible to reverse the situation.

Nana Kudom-Agyeman appealed to the Vice President to consider upgrading the Nkoranza District Assembly into a Municipality because of its vastness and potential in agriculture and tourists attraction. He also appealed to the government to upgrade the roads in the district to help transport food during the rainy season to the major towns to avoid perennial post harvest losses.