Navrongo (U/E), March 08, GNA - The Kassena-Nankana District Assembly has procured 10 tractors at a cost of 1.6 billion cedis to rent to farmers at subsidised rates.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Emmanuel Chegeweh, who made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Navrongo on Monday, said the assembly had so far deposited 400 million cedis as part-payment from its Poverty Alleviation Fund, while the rest of the amount would be settled by instalments.
He explained that one of the main causes of poor crop harvests in the area was the delay in land preparation and late sowing due to the lack of access to affordable tractor services. "As a result of late land preparation our farmers miss the first rains."
Mr Chegeweh said with the establishment of a tractor plant pool, the assembly would contract a team of agricultural extension officers to compile a list of farmers interested in tractor services. The tractors would then be dispatched to plough their fields at a subsidised rate of 200,000 cedis per hectare, as against 450,000 cedis per hectare being charged by the Irrigation Company for Upper Region (ICOUR) and other tractor owners.
"Apart from making tractor services affordable to the majority of ordinary farmers in the district, the move would also allow for timely land preparation to catch the short rains," he said. 08 March 06
