Fire destroys over 20,000 hectares of food crop farms

More than 20,000 hectares of cash and food crop farms in the Asante-Akim Central Municipality had been completely ravaged by wildfire, raising fears of imminent famine in the area.

The uncontrolled fire, fanned by strong winds and the dry conditions, raged for three days running, laying to waste cocoa, plantain, cassava and cocoyam, citrus and other crops.

In all, about 10,000 farmers in six communities – Dwease, Praaso, Boatengkrom, Nsiakrom, Beposo and Nyamebekyere were affected.

The fire was believed to have started from the Dome Forest Reserve and quickly spread to the nearby farms, licking up everything on its way.

Alhaji Braimah Boyong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), had led a team of officials of the assembly, to assess the extent of the damage, and he expressed shock at what he saw - the devastation.

He labelled it as a “tragedy”, considering the huge number of farmers, who had lost their farms and investment.

The MCE said the impact on food security would be far-reaching as the affected communities had been producing the bulk of food crops in the municipality.

Alhaji Boyong sympathized with the victims and invited philanthropists to join hands with the assembly to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, the assembly has set up a nine-man committee to investigate the cause of the fire and make recommendations to prevent future recurrence.