Agriculture is known to be the predominant occupation of most people in the Upper East Region of Ghana. It is estimated that 80 percent of the people in the Region engage in farming to earn a living.
For this reason, the recent hikes in prices of farming inputs are negatively affecting the people in the sector.
When A1 Radio conducted a brief market survey on the prices of fertilizers on the Bolgatanga market, it came to light that a bag of 50kg Yara fertilizer, a popular brand amongst farmers, costs between GHc 360.00 and GHc400.00 in Bolgatanga.
The high unusually high price of the product notwithstanding, it was not readily available on the market.
For farmers, this means that they have to raise huge amounts of money to use as capital for their business.
Some farmers who phoned in during A1 Radio’s Agric Forum yesterday, Tuesday, January 25, 2022, lamented how the cost of fertilizer coupled with its scarcity in the market affects their work.
One caller said “the fertilizer is now expensive for us. Imagine you buy a bag of fertilizer at GHc370, how can you get from this at the end?”
Another caller said, “the fertilizer is expensive. I am calling from Pwalugu, a bag of Yara is GHc400.00 and you can’t even get it to buy”.
“This year what we are experiencing is serious. You can’t even get Yara to buy. If you get too, the price will scare you,” a caller from Zoko added to the cried.
Meanwhile, the Regional Distributor of Government’s subsidised fertilizer, Albert Adongo who spoke on A1 Radio’s Agric Forum admitted there is a shortage of government subsidised fertilizer. He attributed the shortage of fertilizer to the effects of COVID-19 which is affecting the production and importation of the product.
Mr. Adongo added that plans are far advanced to supply farmers with fertilizer in time to avoid the loss of their investment.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Samuel Adagom|Bolgatanga|
