Many extension officers are based in the city - Director

Mr William Boakye-Acheampong, Northern Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture, has expressed concern about the concentration of agricultural extension officers in the regional capital, Tamale.

He said 12 out of the newly recruited extension officers were also stationed in Tamale in addition to some of the old ones in the system when Zabzugu, where a lot of agricultural activities took place, was currently without an extension officer.

Mr Boakye-Acheampong said this at a conference in Tamale organized by PFAG with support from Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to provide government with evidence of successes and challenges of the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and the Fertilizer Subsidy Programmes.

Mr Boakye-Acheampong said attempts to transfer some of the extension officers from Tamale to districts where their services were seriously required proved unsuccessful because some influential people in society advised against such transfers.

He also spoke about the fall army worm infestation advising farmers, who complained of fall army worm infestation, to report such cases to Departments of Agriculture in the districts such that chemicals would be supplied to them to fight the worms.

Mr Abdul-Rahman Mohammed, President of PFAG, said the fall army worm infestation of maize farms had caused a lot of damage to crops this year hence measures being instituted.

Some of the participants urged government to publish the list of types of fertilizers being subsidized and companies dealing in subsidized fertilizers to ensure easy identification to enhance their work.