NGOs urged to reach out to more farmers in Upper West

Wa, Feb. 7, GNA- Mr Joseph Faalong, Upper West Regional Director of Food and Agriculture has commended agriculture related non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the Region for their interventions that had contributed to increased production, food security and improvement in farmers income.

He however, urged the ministry to give farmers in the region a hearing, by extending their activities to include other aspects of agriculture to the farmers outside their areas of intervention. The Regional Director made this suggestion at a party organised by Technoserve, a Wa based International NGO for its farmers, bankers, and other competitors as well as research organisations. This he said would not only raise the confidence of the farmers in the NGOs, but would also go a long way in sustaining the interest of the farmers in their activities.

Mr Faalong called on all stakeholders including farmers and the beer industry to play their role with interest in the cultivation of "Kapaala" a new and high yielding variety of Sorghum proved to be highly suitable for the brewing of beer. As at now he said, a number of farmers in the region had cultivated large quantities of the "Kapaala" seed sorghum for distribution to interested farmers.

Mr Stephen Mwinkaara, project manager of Technoserve, urged farmers and other stakeholders to draw the attention of the NGO to any possible shortcoming since that was the surest way they could collectively achieve their objectives.