Takoradi, Dec 3, GNA – About 98 per cent of farmers in the
country still use traditional methods like the cutlasses and hoes, Mr
Davis Korboe, the 2009 National Best Farmer, has said. He told journalists that agriculture could attract more people as well
as investors if only the needed environment was created in terms of
loans and procurement of equipment for farmers.
Mr Korboe said mechanised, farming which represented only two
per cent, was not enough to increase food production and added that
mechanization of agriculture was a must for the growth of the country. He said in developed countries agricultural materials such as
equipment were highly subsidized but “In Ghana, it is only fertilizers
that are subsidized” and asked “but where are the equipment to work
with?”
Dr Korboe suggested to the government to partner some financial
institutions to provide credit facilities for farmers to buy their own
equipment. Professor Nii Noi Dowuona, Dean of the College of Agriculture of
the University of Ghana, said agriculture was crucial to the economy
and therefore called on the government to do away with discriminatory
policies.
Source: GhanaWeb
