Yam farmers being exploited at Atebubu market

Atebubu (B/A), Feb 19, GNA - Yam farmers in the Atebubu district of Brong-Ahafo, mostly settler farmers are getting despondent about the way they are being exploited at the Atebubu market by the Yam Traders Association. According to the farmers, the chunk of their profit goes to the Association.

They complained that their efforts to relocate at Ahoto, a village near Atebubu where they could get fair prices for their produce, were thwarted by the Atebubu Traditional Council and were contemplating whether to continue to farm yams or shift to the cultivation of other crops.

Confirming the concerns of the yam farmers to the Ghana News Agency at Atebubu last Thursday, Mr Charles Amidu, the manager of the Atebubu Market Complex, said the Association had completely marginalized the farmers in the pricing of their produce.

The Association, he said, decides the price for 100 tubers of yam, which falls far below the production cost of the farmers. Mr Amidu said the Association collects between 30,000 cedis and 60,000 cedis on every 100 tubers of yam sold to traders outside the Association and also takes a tuber of yam on every 100 tubers brought to the market.

The situation, Mr Amidu said, had been compounded by high transport fares the farmers pay to transport their yams to the market and that the farmers pay not less than 80,000 cedis for 100 tubers of yams carted to the Atebubu market.

The market manager said this situation had compelled yam traders from outside the district to stop patronising the market, leading to a sharp decline in revenue to the market.

Mr Amidu said several meetings held with the Association on the issue had not yielded any results, as the Association was adamant about the situation it had created.

He said unless something urgent was done about the situation, not only did the district stand to lose a lot of revenue should the farmers decide to shift from the cultivation of yams to other crops, but the district could be faced with food problem. When the GNA contacted Nana Effah Guakro of the Atebubu Traditional Council and a member of the Association, he did not comment on it as he was bereaved.