Farmers to form movement for 2020 polls

Nana Opambuor Boateng Bonsu, the president of the Concerned Farmers Association of Ghana, has said the support given by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) programme, through the donation of cereals, is an indictment on the government of Ghana.

According to him, local farmers are unable to produce enough to feed the entire population, including students of the SHSs due to the poor investment made in the agriculture sector by the government.

ECOWAS offered the government of Ghana 2,750 tonnes of cereals to support its school feeding programme under the Free SHS policy.

The donation was in response to a request by the government of Ghana.

The cereals were stored in warehouses of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) in Tamale and Yendi in the Northern Region under the ECOWAS Food Security Reserves.

Speaking on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom hosted by Kwabena Prah Jnr. (The Don) on Wednesday, 16 January, Mr Boateng Bonsu said Ghanaian farmers are unhappy with the low investment in the sector by the government.

He said if things remain unchanged, the farmers will be forced to form a movement to influence the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

“ECOWAS support for Ghana’s free SHS programme is an indictment on Ghana because we have a lot of farmers in Ghana who could have produced more to feed all our children in school, but because of low investment by the government, we are unable to produce the quantity needed,” he said.

“If things remain like this, we are going to form a movement for the 2020 elections,” he revealed.