Revitalise Food Distribution Corporation

Anwomaso (Ashanti Region) -- Nana Kwaku Siaw, National Best Aquaculture Award Winner for 2002, has made an urgent appeal to the government to institute more pragmatic measures designed at either revitalising the Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC) or replacing it with a central marketing system for purchase of farm produce from farm gates.

He observed that the absence of any central marketing scheme to buy farmers products had paved the way for middlemen to exploit hard working farmers, thereby making them to operate at a loss.

Nana Siaw, who is also the best farmer award winner for the Kumasi Metropolitan Area in 1998, made the appeal in a New Year message issued at Anwomaso on Wednesday.

He was emphatic that if Ghana is to become self-sufficient in food production and also succeed in attracting more youth to farming, then priority attention have to be given to seeking a solution to the marketing problem facing farmers.

He, however, commended the government for the numerous interventions and loan facilities in particular that it had put in place to facilitate the work of Ghanaian farmers and to make the sector attractive to the youth.

Nana Siaw noted that even though loan schemes existed for the benefit of farmers, because of ignorance and illiteracy, most of them have not been able to make use of such facilities.

He therefore, suggested to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to carry out sustained education programmes to enlighten the farming communities more about the existence of such schemes and how farmers could access such facilities.

Nana Siaw also advised farmers to eschew the tendency of conducting their farming ventures on individual basis and begin to adopt the practice of forming groups and co-operatives in pursuance of their ventures.

He stated that apart from helping them have easy access to medium and long-term loan facilities, forming co-operatives would also enhance their capacity to increase their output.