Nasia Farmers forced to let land fallow

Nasia (N/R), Jan 27, GNA- About 23 hectares of irrigable land at Nasia in the Northern Region has been left fallow and 10 fishponds that could have been used for dry season gardening have also dried up due to the inability of farmers' association to pay electricity bills. The 56 farmers who form the Nasia Farmers and Fishermen Association (NAFAFA) cultivated tomatoes during the last dry season but were disappointed as unknown tomato disease that affected the plant in the Upper East Region also affected the vegetable in the Nasia area, causing poor yields.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the farmers said they had hoped to get a better harvest of maize last year so that they could get money to pay their bills but that also failed them because of the draught and too much rain, which flooded the low land area. They said electricity is used to pump water from the river into a reservoir from which it was pumped to the canals that fed the farm plots.

Mr. John Issah Braimah, treasurer of the association, said the outstanding bill is 33 million cedis and they are trying to see how best they could mobilise funds to pay the debt before the next season.

Mr Braimah, who was the only farmer to crop onion on a small plot, said he was positive that he would get a good yield. He said he had earlier on bought the onion seed before he got to know that they would not be getting electric power this season. He got water from shallow wells in the nearby valley, nursed the onions and transplanted.

"I have spent about 2.8 million cedis so far and the work is hard but I can see that my labour would bear good fruits, so I am very happy that I decided to try this method."

He explained that he dug shallow wells that give a lot of water and used 32 barrels of water per day to water his onion. 27 Jan 04