Rice farmers in the Tono rice enclave in the Kasena Nankana Municipality are calling on government to intervene to provide farmers with farm implements and subsidies to help arrest post-harvest losses.
According to them, the unavailability of basic farm implements and modern technology has over the years been a worry to farmers who make mild returns at the end of every rice harvest.
They noted that the availability of farm implements and modern technology such as combine harvesters to farmers will not only aid in the swift preparation of farmland and planting but will also play a key role in ensuring that harvesting is swift to avoid their produce from losing its value.
“We do not have modern farm implements such as combine harvesters so that affects us during harvesting. Now we have a lot of groups and the combine harvesters are about five, I think. Before these five harvesters work on other farms till it gets to your farm, the rice would have dried up and lost its value. So if they are many, it will help us to make greater profit,” one farmer told a1radioonline.com.
Mr. Samari, another farmer, noted that the combine harvesters currently available are for private individuals who decide to increase or decrease the price depending on the demand of the machine at a point-in-time. This, he noted leaves the farmer at the mercy of owners of combine harvesters who release their machines to highest bidders.
“If the government can help us with combine harvesters on hire purchase, it will go a long way to improve upon our work so that we are not left at the mercy of private owners who take advantage of the unavailability to charge exorbitant prices.”
Mr. Samari acknowledged government’s effort at providing subsidies on fertilizer and other chemicals used for farming, but like Oliver Twist, he asked that government does more with the provision of these chemicals at low cost because “the chemicals now play a key role in ensuring that farmers gain huge yield during the harvest period.”
He noted that pricing of their produce has always been determined by middlemen who come from Southern Ghana to purchase them therefore making their profit margin very minimal. He used the opportunity to call on government to play a key role in the pricing of agricultural produce.
However, Regional Coordinator for ADVANCE GHANA, a Non-Governmental Organization working in the agric sector in the Upper East Region, Owusu Maniampong believes that the issue with pricing of agricultural produce can be addressed with standardization.
According to him, although standardization will be difficult, if quality control measures are ensured by farmers, there will not be cause to complain by any customer hence giving the farmer the advantage of determining the price at which his/her produce will be sold
By: Offei-Akoto Ayeh | A1RADIOONLINE.com | Ghana
