The Ashaiman Municipal Agricultural Office has called on beneficiaries of the Food and Agricultural Development Policy II (FADP II) to pay for the inputs supplied them on credit to enable others to benefit from the programme.
Mr. John Tetteh Alipue, Ashaiman Municipal Crop Officer, who made the call, said the inability of some beneficiaries to pay for the inputs after harvesting their crops, has led to the office’s incapacity to get more people to benefit from the policy this year.
Mr. Alipue explained that under the policy, inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, among others, are given to farmers on credit and they are expected to pay after harvesting their crops.
He made the call at a day’s sensitization programme on the FADP II for farmers drawn from the Ashaiman Roman Down Farmers Association and the Ashaiman Irrigation Farmers Cooperative Society.
The programme was organized by the Rural-Urban Women and Children Development Agency (RUWACDA) in partnership with SEND Ghana, all non-governmental organization.
Mr. Alipue said the Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan was being used to implement the FADP II to encourage mostly the youth to take interest in the agricultural sector.
He said in Ashaiman, such people who come in groups were given the inputs to farm or engage in livestock farming in the municipality.
He added that others were also trained in agro processing under the same programme.
The crop officer said it was unfortunate that some of them had defaulted in the payment, adding that all efforts to retrieve the money after the harvest have yielded no result.
In 2010, 50 hectares of rice and 30 hectares of onion were harvested under the programme in the municipality whilst in 2011; 15 hectares and 30 hectares of maize and onion respectively were also yielded.
Mr. Braimah Abdulai, Executive Director of RUWACDA indicated that the programme was organized as part of his outfit’s mission of building the capacity and empowering of the vulnerable in society.
He said the sensitization programme was also to enable the farmers to have a face-to-face interaction with the agricultural officers to address some of their problems and educate them on the policies of the sector.
Mr Julius Okyere, Secretary for the Ashaiman irrigation Farmers Coopertaive Society appealed to NGO’s, political leaders, government and individuals to desist from using farmers as a decoy to take grants and aids from philanthropists, and donor countries.
Mr Okyere noted that most often they get information in the media of some monies purported to have been allocated to farmers, but they do not benefit from such allocations.
