Pusiga District to get 1000 metric ton capacity storage facility

Abdulai Zubeiru, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Pusiga on Wednesday said government has begun the construction of a thousand metric ton food storage facility at Pusiga to store excess food produced in the area.

The warehouse, which is among those allocated to the Upper East Region as part of accessories to the “Planting for Food and Jobs” and the community dam system programme, is about 40 percent complete.

Mr Zubeiru who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and said the warehouse when completed, would increase food production and promote food security, and farmers would no longer helplessly live their produce to go waste on their farms.

According to the DCE, food safely stored in the facility, would guarantee food security by catering for local consumption and sale. It would open up the district for both local and international trade.

Mr Zubeiru lamented how thousands of tons of food items, especially perishable ones got wasted in the area immediately after harvest and said farmers would be encouraged to do more, once they are assured of storage and safety of their harvests.

He indicated that for fear that the harvests would go bad; farmers are compelled to sell their wares at very low prices due to the unavailability of storage facilities and ready market for their farm produce.

Mr Zubeiru expressed optimism that these challenges would come to an end since the warehouse when completed, could contain all excess foodstuff produced in the area.

The DCE said the warehouse was part of the infrastructural development meant to reduce poverty and compliment the other social interventions policies.

He hinted that the project, which had seen about 40 percent work, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, stating that, this would help address poor farm-level practices, handling and storage activities that exposed farm produce to pests.

He gave assurance of government’s commitment to complete these projects on schedule since it would go a long way in reducing post-harvest losses in the district.

"After the farming season this year, famers in the district would have no more nightmares of storage facilities to store their produce, this project will also help supply Senior High Schools around with enough food” he added.