The Centre for Women in Agriculture and Nutrition (CWAN), a Non-governmental Organisation based in the Upper West Region, has said that while the government’s flagship programme, the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), has been of tremendous help to farmers, there have been several lapses. One of the major lapses identified by the CWAN is the lack of direct strategies, within the programme, to properly address Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) among rural farmers.
Speaking A1radio at Wa on the current issue of vivipary among some farmers in Nandom, Mr. Emmanuel Wullingdool, the Executive Director of CWAN explained that while a small part of the programme touches on the issues of Post-Harvest Losses, the programme fails woefully in its attempt to serve as a comprehensive answer for the many challenges in the agriculture sector.
“It is very sad to think of it that farmers put in a lot of effort and a lot of resources only for them to lose a part [of their yield] to PHL. If you look at the programme [PFJ], the focus is on production. Government is talking about giving farmers input support. It [the PFJ] is also talking about extension services, marketing and e-agriculture. Though we may find elements of Post-Harvest support, there is no conscious or deliberate effort to address it [PHL],” he said.
Mr. Wullingdool, while sympathizing with farmers in the Nandom Municipality of the Upper West Region, suggested that the farmers need to realize that farming should not just be a matter of subsistence. He implored farmers to see farming as a viable business option and thus invest more resources into production, marketing and storing the produce. This he said will reduce the reliance on government and also reduce the incidence of PHL among farmers.
“They [the farmers] are not looking at the commercial aspect of it [farming]. They consider it more of a cultural thing. When you have a situation where they are not looking at the farming from a commercial aspect, it means that some of the areas of farming including the post-Harvest management are business as usual,” he explained.
In an effort to address some of these challenges, Mr. Wullingdool has asked that farmers strengthen their farmer cooperative system. This, he explained will allow farmers, as a group, to make huge capital investments that will inure to their benefit. He said if the farmers in Nandom, for example, had a robust cooperative system, they would have been able to purchase a solar dryer to help dry their produce and reduce PHL.
The Executive Director for the Centre for Women in Agriculture and Nutrition (CWAN) also encouraged financial institutions to take advantage of the many opportunities in the sector to make profits for themselves while also helping the agriculture sector develop in leaps and bounds.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
