About fifty percent of plantain cultivated in Asante Akyem Agogo area of the Ashanti region
goes waste. Farmers in the district produce between fifty to seventy trucks of plantain every week, but
lack of storage facilities is militating against the food production efforts. Bad roads, coupled with non-availability of
ready market are among challenges
contributing to what has become a perennial problem for the farmers.
The farmers have had to sell their farm produce at cheaper prices while some get rotten.
Obaa Abena Fosua is a farmer who owns 80 acres of land. She has devoted 10 acres for watermelons and cultivates plantain on the
rest. She explained the frustration and experience of her fellow farmers to Luv Biz on our visit.
“Now the Plantain business is bad. We can’t sell even half of what we produce. We don’t have ready market for our production so they
end up rotten”. Because the roads are bad, the farmers engage
tractors to cart their farm produce from the farm to the town. A trip cost Ghc600. As expensive as it is, these farmers are left with no choice but to employ the services of these tractors. “Paying Ghc600 for a trip is too expensive and
drains us. We are compelled to engage them because the KIA trucks can’t ply the deplorable
route,” Abena reveals. “Russia Park” is the name of an open place
where market women display their wares. At the time of visit, fingers of plantain had been arranged everywhere. Abena is worried that often more than half of the heaped plantains don’t get sold. They are left at the mercy of the weather for weeks, hence get rotten and some sold at unreasonably cheaper prices.
“A bag of plantain is now Ghc60. How much will I pay my labourers? It is difficult to offset all these expenses,” she passionately recounts and adds the farmers
need help. Deputy Agriculture Director for Asante Akyem Agogo, Felix Sackietey has called on investors to come to the rescue of farmers. The presence of an agro-processing factory, according him, is critical in the area to reduce
the incidence of post-harvest plantain losses. Farmers and other stakeholders have been meeting at Asante Akyem Agogo to deliberate
on the state of agriculture in the region. It was organised by Inform Ghana, a Star Ghana funded project which seeks to ease information sharing. The group collaborates with civil society
organizations and the media to establish an online platform for information exchange. Project manager of Inform Ghana, Nehemiah Atiga tells Luv News improved media reportage
on agriculture is expected through an online information exchange.
This should promote informed citizen engagement, advocacy and their ability to hold duty bearers accountable at the end of the
day. “Quality research is focused to build capacity for data producers (CSOs) and data consumers (Media) to share, assess and utilize quality
information on socio-economic and
governance issues”, he says.
Sunday, 2 November 2014
50% of plantain harvested left to rot every week. Update: 02 - Nov - 2014.
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