ADB to invest two million dollars in large-scale farming

Savelugu (N/R), Aug. 30, GNA - The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) will invest more than two million dollars to promote large-scale cultivation of cotton, mango and sheanuts in the three Northern Regions, its management has said.

Mr. Edward Boakye-Agyeman, Managing Director of the bank said under the project, 500 farmers each from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions would be assisted with irrigation facilities, insecticides and other inputs to increase yield and improve upon their incomes. He said this when he and Mr Paul Koranteng, the Board chairman, inspected a 21-acre Dolana Ayana Organic Mango Farm at the outskirts of Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District on Wednesday. Mr Boakye-Agyeman said the Bank hoped to recover its investment after a six to eight-year period after which it would transfer ownership of the farms to the farmers.

He said last year, the Bank assisted 29,000 farmers in the three regions in the production, distribution and marketing of cotton to the Ghana Cotton Company and "OLAM", a multi-national company. Alhaji Ayana Yakubu, owner of the Mango farm, said he had plans to expand the plantation to 400 acres and also protect water bodies around it.