An aspiring Brong-Ahafo Regional Propaganda Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prince Diawuo, has noted that the government has been unfair to food crop farmers, in terms of the provision of incentives, as compared to cash crop farmers, especially, cocoa farmers in Ghana.
Mr. Prince Diawuo, in an interview with The Chronicle, indicated that such discrimination was a recipe for food insecurity, if not resolved.
He has, therefore, called on the government to assist food crop farmers with subsidies on fertilisers and pesticides to improve agriculture production in the country.
According to Prince Diawuo, lack of subsidies on fertiliser and pesticides is affecting agriculture production, especially, maize and yam rice farming in parts of Brong-Ahafo, where he has visited, as part of his campaign to become the Regional Propaganda Secretary.
He said farmers in areas such as Wenchi, Techiman, Tain, Banda, Sene, Atebubu, Kintampo, Pru, Nkoranza, Jaman North and South depend mostly on fertilisers and pesticides to improve production, but lack of subsidies on them was hampering the ability of the farmers to buy the required quantity for their farms. Mr. Diawuo disclosed that as an aspiring Propaganda Secretary, he tried to find out the problems of the people, and identify how best those issues could be resolved to ensure that the “Better Ghana Agenda” of the NDC government is achieved.
He said the farmers narrated that the fertility of most of the farm lands used for maize and yam production had gone down, whilst pests have been destroying the crops resulting in reduction in yields, thereby having a negative impact on their livelihoods and the country’s economy at large.
According to the aspiring Regional Propaganda Secretary, the farmers indicated that the fertility of the farms lands had been reduced due to the continuous cropping of the land.
He said the farmers further indicated that the price of fertiliser and pesticides had also gone high, which has become a bane to improved yields, to enhance the economic situation of the country.
Mr. Diawuo called on the government to pay equal attention to food crop farmers and support them with subsidies and the provision of pesticides, as is done to cocoa and other cash crop farmers.
He said, from his interactions with the farmers, it was realised that if a maize farmer applied two bags of fertiliser to cultivate an acre of land, the farmer would harvest 10 bags of maize, but without applying fertiliser, the said farmer would have a reduction in the quantity of maize harvest to about four or five bags.
According to the aspiring Propaganda Secretary, as the government is calling on the youth to venture into agriculture, incentives such as the provision of subsidies for fertilizers and pesticides must be available to motivate them to take the challenge to ensure food security and an improved economy.
He noted that propaganda is not about propagating lies, but ascertaining the facts about what is really affecting the people and what the government was doing to resolve those problems to the public, hence the NDC delegates of the Brong-Ahafo Region should give him the nod to help propagate the “Better Ghana Agenda”.
