Farmers in Lawra Municipal welcome improved seed varieties

Farmers in Lawra Municipality in the Upper West Region have expressed their contentment with the introduction of better-quality seed varieties geared towards improving farming activities and raising the economic status of farmers.

The varieties that include ‘wandata’ and ‘sinzasima’ maize; ‘fava’ soybeans, ‘wankai’ cowpea, ‘yenyaoso’ groundnuts; sorghum and sweet potatoes, have been certified by agriculturalist as early maturing and high yielding.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at a farm demonstration for the new crop varieties at Babile Agricultural Satiation in the Lawra Municipality, Mr Naakpi Kuubenang, a farmer from Lawra, said the varieties would greatly help farmers because they have a short maturity period.

“We now have new seeds which can yield within 75 to 90 days, so if we still depend on the old seeds we will lose because the rains are not reliable”, he said. 

Madam Augustine Sookutaa, also a farmer at Babile, said if the new varieties are being planted according to laid down agronomic practices with appropriate fertilizer application and weeding, there would be increased gains in produce.

“The new seed they brought, if you sow it, weed and apply the appropriate amount of fertilizer it will help you. This one is more beneficial than the old ones. When you sow it doesn’t reach four months before maturing, so I prefer the new one to the old one”, she said.

Mr Dangana Mahama, the Babile Agricultural Satiation Manager in charge of Crops, said the introduction of the improved crop varieties is in line with the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme to boost the agriculture sector.

Besides their high yielding and early maturing features, he said, the new seed varieties are also climate resilient and could resist drought and diseases.

“These are crops that we need to adopt so that we don’t grow one crop for a very long time, the system now is dynamic, things are changing every time with pests and diseases, environmental and climate change issues”, he said.

Mr Mahama said the exercise is being carried out in agriculture stations countrywide and farmers would be trained on planting, fertilizer application and harvesting to effectively manage their farms and derive maximum benefits.

Mr Martin Bomba-Ire, the Lawra Municipal Chief Executive, said the PFJ programme is meant to reduce hanger and improve livelihoods of farmers in the country adding that the effort is progressing steadily in the municipal areas.

He urged farmers to adopt the new improved seed varieties in order to reap more yields.

published on the GNA

FDA condemns irresponsible disposal of expired products

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has warned the public against the irresponsible disposal of unwholesome products such as expired household chemical substances saying this is against the Public Health Act (851) of 2012.

Section 132 (3) and (4) of the Act states that, “A person shall not dispose an unwholesome regulated product without the supervision of the Authority”.

It adds that, “A person who contravenes subsection (3) shall pay a fine of not more than five thousand penalty units to the Authority”.

The Act states that individuals and companies are mandated to dispose off those products in consultation with the FDA to ensure that the public did not have access to them either to be consumed or sold to the unsuspecting public. 

Mr Albert Ankomah, the Upper West Regional Director of FDA, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa Thursday that some boxes of Shine Double Concentrated Tomato Paste were being disposed at Siriyiri waste landfill last Monday, September 2, 2019 without informing the FDA.

“We had information that somebody had gone to dispose of Shine Double Concentrated Tomato Paste in plastic sachets at the Siriyiri refuse dump,” he said: “When we had the complaint we quickly moved in there and we observed that the tomato in paper cartons were scattered and the FDA had to gather them and then dispose them”.

He said the FDA is collaborating with the regional Police Command to investigate the matter and take appropriate action against the perpetrators of the act.

Mr Ankomah said the products were near their expiration date but that they were disposed of due to poor storage which led to blotting and leakage of the products and could not be sold to the public.

Mr Ankomah warned that any person or company caught disposing of unwholesome products illegally would be charged GHC 25,000.00 or prosecuted.

He appealed to dealers in household chemical substances, drugs, food products and other regulated products to contact the FDA for a certificate of destruction before destroying them.

Published on the GNA

Women, children at Siriyiri earn living from refuse dump site

Some women and children at the Siriyiri community in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region depend on a landfilled site at the community as their alternative source of livelihood.

They pick empty cans and metals from the site to sell as scraps to dealers who visit the community on daily basis to earn an income.

A visit by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to the dump site spotted some women and children busily picking metals from the refuse to sell.

One of the women who refused to disclose her identity told the GNA that she had no other alternative source of income to cater for the educational and health needs of her children, hence, her decision to resort to picking the empty cans and metals from the refuse site to sell.

"I don't have any other work to do, so when I collect these things I sell them and I am able make between GH¢5.00 to GH¢10.00 a day.

“I have been doing this for about six years now. This is what I use to farm and pay for my children's school fees. I have five children two are married leaving three with me and my husband is dead", she added.

She said though she was aware of the health hazards associated with their activities, there was little she could do and appealed to government and benevolent organisations to come to their aid by providing them with alternative sources of income.

The Siriyiri landfill was acquired by the Wa Municipal Assembly and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, have been contracted to manage waste products in the municipality.

The residents of the community, particularly women and children, had access to the site because it was poorly managed, exposing them to sanitation-related diseases.

Published on GNA

Mango farmers call for government intervention to grow the sector

Some commercial mango farmers in Kintampo in the Bono East Region say mango cultivation has the potential to transform the nation’s economy.

They said despite the economic potential of the industry, government was prioritising other sectors such as cashew and cocoa cultivation whilst relegating mango farming to the background.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Wa, Mr Caleb Kofi Bleboo, Outgrowers Coordinator at Sky 3, a production and aggregation company in Kintampo, noted that mango had gained global recognition as the “king of all fruits”.

“We have a lot of mango fruits, what we have realised is that Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government are paying more attention to rubber, cashew and cocoa.

“But, this time round, we want to advocate that authorities and NGOs that are in Ghana should come and help us grow the sector to its full potential,” Mr Bleboo said.

The commercial mango farmers therefore appealed to government and the private sector to give maximum attention to mango production by supporting the farmers in order for the country to benefit from the sector’s huge potential.

On his part, Mr Bismark Dei Commey, Business Development and Administrative Manager at Sky 3, said a tone of mango was sold at GH¢ 2000.00 while an acre of mango plantation could produce up to six tones.

He lamented that the sector was bedeviled with numerous challenges including disease infestations and lack of ready market for the produce, claiming that the economic benefit of mango to the nation could surpass that of cocoa if it had the necessary attention.

“There is no guarantee market for mangoes, the farmer will go through a lot of agronomic practices at the end expecting to get price for the good quality mangoes that he has cultivated but to no avail,” he indicated.

Mr Commey added that some farmers in the industry have no practical experience in the field and thus needed to be equipped with the required skills to enable them produce good quality fruits for both the local and international markets.

Madam Veronica Aboagye, a mango farmer in Kintampo, lamented that she entered into mango cultivation with joy about ten years ago, but now she is discouraged by the challenges and government’s apathy towards the sector.

“We started the farming with joy because we didn’t know of the challenges … but we don’t get support from anybody, government should come to our aid, the chemicals used for spraying is expensive, the spraying machines are also expensive,” she lamented.

The farmers also appealed to the government, the private sector and other stakeholders to establish mango processing companies in the country to process the fruits into finished products as part of efforts to promote the sector.

Published on GNA