Damwaateon farmers appeal for inclusion in PFJ programme

Some farmers at the Damwaateon and Mwaakpa communities in the Wa West District have appealed to government to extend the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme to their communities.

They said since the implementation of the programme about three years ago they have not benefited from it and this has impeded their efforts to increase their production.

The farmers, who made the appeal in an interaction with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said they would greatly improve their farming activities if they benefited from the PFJ programme.

Mr Boo-Iru Baasor, the Chief of the Damwaateon, told the GNA that they do not have the capital strength to engage in large scale farming if government does not come to their aid with the PFJ programme.

“We are old men, we don’t have the strength but we do small farms and need fertilizer, so we are appealing to the DCE and the MP to help us to get fertilizer and tractors to farm”, he said.

He said they have heard that government was giving farmers some support in a form of fertilizer and other inputs but none has reached their community.

Mr Bonteon Mwaadomo, a resident of the Damwaateon community, said the lack of a dam for dry season farming was negatively affecting their efforts.

He said some of the youth had to travel to the southern sector during the dry season to engage in activities that could earn them income as they had no beneficial economic activities in the dry season.

Mr Mwaadomo said if they had the dam at the community, many of the youth would stay to farm in the dry season and to also engage in animal farming.

Other challenges they identified as having an impact on the community included lack of electricity, health facility, school, and potable water for domestic purposes and appealed to government and benevolent organisations to come to their aid.

Meanwhile, Dr John Yaw Akparep, the Research Director for the Centre of Posterity Interest Organisation (COPIO), said the coronavirus pandemic would adversely affect agricultural production if the government did not intervene to support farmers.

He said the pandemic has affected the financial status of farmers and this would affect their efforts to produce on a large scale.