Mr. Kwaku Takyi, the 2020 Sunyani Municipal Best Farmer, has commended the government for the on-going rehabilitation of the Yawsae-Daadom-Nsagobese-Wamfie feeder road in the Bono Region.
He said successive governments had failed to rehabilitate the road, despite its economic benefits, saying President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government deserved praise for the progress of work on the stretch.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday at Daadom, a farming community in the Sunyani Municipality, Mr. Takyi who is also the Chief Farmer of Daadom, said the farmers in the area would forever be grateful to the President.
He expressed regret that due to the deplorable nature of the stretch, perishable food items were always left to rot in farms, because the farmers could not transport them to market centres during bumper harvest and rainy seasons.
The farmer expressed the hope that work on the project would be completed to facilitate the movement of the farmers and their economic activities.
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Mr. Takyi also applauded the government for the Planting for Food and Jobs (PfFJs) programme, saying its implementation had helped many of the farmers to expand their farming activities.
He however, noted that the government’s distribution of agro-chemicals to the farmers in the area under the PfFJs was inadequate and appealed to the Sunyani Municipal Directorate of Agriculture to provide the farmers with more agro-chemicals.
Mr. Takyi, who owns among others 92 acres of Cocoa and 48 acres of cashew plantations, 20 acres of plantain, cassava and maize with a mixed crop farm and 13 cattle, expressed worry about uncontrolled illegal chainsaw operations, which was affecting their farm work.
He said the effect of climate change was being felt in the area, saying it was affecting food production and other farming activities due to unpredictable rainfall and weather patterns, and appealed to government for effective implementation of climate change mitigation measures to reverse the trend.
Mr. Takyi said lack of access to farm lands remained a huge problem in the area, indicating that with accessibility of lands, many farmers were ready to expand their farming activities to increase food production.
He therefore called on the Directorate of Agriculture to collaborate with traditional authorities in the Bono Region to release farm lands to enable many farmers in the Region to engage in commercial farming to enhance food production and security.
