Don't politicize agriculture, Chief cautions

Atia (B/A) Nov. 23, GNA - Nana Appiah Zakaria, Odikro of Atia, a farming community near Nsuta in the Techiman Municipality, has appealed to Ghanaians not to politicize the agricultural policies of the government. He said the politicization of such policies would not serve the interest of the nation but rather adversely affect agricultural productivity.

Nana Zakaria, 2007 Techiman Municipal Best Farmer, made the appeal when he conducted journalists round his 40-acre cocoa farm and an indigenous tree plantation at Atia.

He said if agricultural policies should be subjected to any form of analysis, it should be looked at objectively and not from "political lens". The chief called on the government to release part of the Sawsaw Forest Reserve for inter-cropping of cocoa and other timber species. Nana Zakaria deplored the bad nature of a five-kilometre feeder road linking Kojokrom, Nti-Kwabenakrom, Kwabenakrom, Jatokrom, Akokodemukrobo, among eight farming communities in the area.

Mr. Alex Effah Takyi, Techiman Municipal Director of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA) lauded the efforts of Nana Zakaria in promoting agriculture in the municipality. He described agriculture as a lucrative business and underscored the need for farmers to intensify the cultivation of cocoa in the area. Mr. Takyi warned palm-wine tappers and group hunters to be wary of naked fires to avoid the 1983 debacle when bush fires destroyed large hectares of cocoa farms in the country.