AGRICULTURE

MCE advises farmers to adopt modern ways of farming
The Tano North Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Ernest Kwarteng has advised farmers and agric extension officers in the area to adopt modern ways of farming practice in order to ensure year-round farming.

Date Created : 8/28/2019 4:18:44 AM : Story Author : Gordon Deade/Ghanadistricts.com

He said government is also bent on realizing its key policies and numerous interventions in the agric sector that are geared towards providing the needed support to farmers to help improve production.

The MCE noted this at a day stakeholder’s sensitization workshop on value chain for fifty five (55) farmers drawn from Tano north municipal including researchers and some agric experts.

The workshop was organised by Tano North Municipal Agric Department with sponsorship from Government of Ghana (GoG).

He urged farmers to take advantage of these government policies such as Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Export and Rural Development among others to help change their fortunes around.

On his part, a Research Fellow, Dr.Grace Bolfrey -Arku of Crops Research Institute in Kumasi also urged farmers in the Tano North Municipality to resort to innovative use of organic manure to enrich the soil fertility.

She added that there have been too much of chemical fertilizers used which could be harmful in reducing the original food nutrients.
In her key presentation, Dr. Bolfrey Arku enlightened the participants about the indigenous practice of farming by the use of organic manure to maintain soil nutrients, adding that this is the best practice rather than using chemical fertilizers.

According to her, organic foods are more expensive because research has proven that organic manure food products are of quality than chemical fertilizer food product.

The Tano North Municipal Extension officer of Agric, Isaac Kofi Amponsah said, deplorable road network linking to the farms, diseases prevention, transportation, perishable crops prevention and high cost of fertilizer were some key issues affecting farmers in the area.

He further touched on some areas to help mitigate these challenges in a power point presentation.