400 tractors from Czech Republic

Wechiau, April 22, GNA - The government will, by the middle of next month, take delivery of 400 tractors and 500 power tillers from the Czeck Republic for distribution to farmers.

Mr clement Eledi, a Deputy Minister of food and Agriculture, said this at a People's Assembly organised by the Wa West District at Wechiau in the Upper West on Wednesday.

He said the terms for the acquisition of the new consignment of tractors would be different from those that were received from India and sold to the farmers on hire purchase at 160 million cedis each. Mr Eledi told the people that a dam would be constructed at Wechiau this year under the livestock development project of the ministry in recognition of the area's role in animal rearing.

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister, said in the region's quest to improve agricultural production, the provision of irrigation facilities was paramount.

He said a team of experts recently undertook a regional survey for potential dam sites throughout the region and identified four valleys in each of the eight districts.

Mr Dery said a total of 618 boreholes were provided for communities in the region under the Community Water and Sanitation Project Two, HIPC and the Community Based Rural Development Project.

Mr Daniel Kuusogno, the Wa West District Chief Executive, said with the introduction of the Capitation Grant, enrolment figures in the district rose by seven per cent from 13,690 to 14,64.

To get more people to subscribe to the national health insurance scheme, he said, 40 people made up of chiefs assembly members and opinion leaders had been trained to sensitise the people on the benefits of the scheme. He said only 2,467 people have registered with the scheme in the district.