By Dennis Peprah
Yeji, (BE/R), Jan. 07, GNA – Mr Emmanuel Boam, a philanthropist at Yeji in the Pru East District of the Bono East Region, has appealed to the government to construct irrigation facilities to attract the unemployed youth into commercial farming.
He bemoaned the rising youth unemployment situation in the area, saying the district had fertile lands good for agriculture, but regretted that water problems discouraged many of the interested young people engaged in farming.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Yeji, the Pru East District capital, Mr Boam, a banker, said the rate of joblessness among the youth in area threatened the security of the district.
He said the Pru District was good for cultivation of rice, yams and maize, saying because of erratic rains the crops were not doing well.
“Now the minor and major farming seasons are hard to notice because of the changes in the weather due to the impact of climate change which is well felt in this area,” Mr Boam stated.
“The mean temperature ranges from a height of 30 degrees Celsius in March to as low as 24 degree Celsius in August.
The mean annual temperature also ranges between 26.5 degree Celsius and 27.2 degree Celsius and in extreme cases temperatures rise to about 40 degree Celsius which is not good for farming, he stated.
Mr Boam said the climatic condition in the area was hardly stable, saying “for some year now the rains delay or come in low quantities and in other years the rains come in excess with stormy and torrential down pour,” he added.
This, he explained, sometimes caused extensive destruction to crops and the environment, and called on state and non-state agriculture institutions to help improve the system of farming and agriculture productivity in the area.
The District Assembly must also be innovative and put in place pragmatic measures to enhance food productivity in the area.
“In fact, farming is gradually becoming unattractive to the people because of the bad and unpredicted weather conditions,” he said and called on agriculture extension officers to do more, assist and guide farmers in their farm work during the crop seasons.
GNA