Afigya-Kwabre goes to the aid of maize farmers

The Afigya-Kwabre District Assembly is to build a maize market at Kyekyewere to aid farmers to find buyers for the cereal crop grown widely in the area.

Mr Kwaku Oppong-Kyekyeku Kaakyire, the District Chief Executive (DCE), said this would significantly help to boost their earnings and improve their livelihood.

There is also the added advantage of bringing in more revenue to shore up the assembly’s finances.

He said the market would come with storage facilities where maize and other farm produce would be kept.

The DCE told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the farmers in the district often “go through a lot of difficulty selling their foodstuff”, and he said, this was a huge disincentive to increased agricultural production.

“This is what the assembly is determined to tackle to make farming attractive.”

Reporters of the GNA were in the district under STAR-Ghana’s media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put a spotlight on how government’s resources were helping to transform the lives of the people.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good governance.

Mr Oppong-Kyekyeku said another market would be built at Boamang, adding that this would bring to an end the disturbing incidence of food crops getting locked up in the farming communities.

Again, the people would not be forced to let go their agricultural produce at give away prices for lack of buyers.

He expressed optimism that with the right interventions, food production levels in the area could be raised.

He said the Assembly would therefore continue to make deliberate efforts to inspire the people, particularly the youth, to take up farming.