By Iddi Yire, GNA
Takoratwene (E/R), March 21, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama in fulfillment of his campaign promise, on Saturday, cut the sod for the establishment of a Farmer Services Centre at Takoratwene in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District of the Eastern Region.
This is part of efforts by the Government to boost agriculture production and to ensure food security in the country.
A Farmer Services Centre is a facility equipped with machinery, input, technical and financial capacity to provide services to farmers within its catchment area such as mechanisation services for land preparation, input application, harvesting, shelling and bagging.
Others are the supply of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, weedicides, and pesticides and agronomic extension services to support farmers.
President Mahama in his remarks announced that the Government intends to establish 50 Farmer Services Centres across the various farming ecological zones of the country.
He noted that 11 of the Centres would be established this year.
The President reiterated that the establishment of a Farmer Services Centre marks the beginning of a strategic national investment in agriculture, adding that it was a practical step towards building a more modern, productive and resilient agricultural economy.
“Most importantly, it’s a testament of confidence in the hard-working farmers of Ghana,” he said.
“Agriculture remains the backbone of livelihoods for millions of Ghanaians. It sustains households, it supports local economies, it supplies raw materials to industry and underpins our national food security.
“However, for far too long, many of our farmers have worked under very challenging conditions.
He noted that limited access to mechanization services, inadequate storage, weak extension services and poor market linkages were the issues that hindered productivity and lowered incomes.
“If we’re committed to transforming Ghana’s economy, then we must be equally serious about transforming our agriculture.”
President Mahama said the Government was pursuing a comprehensive agricultural transformation agenda, one that moved the sector from subsistence to modern commercial production, from vulnerability to resilience, from low productivity to value addition and competitiveness.
He said the Farmer Services Centre programme was a flagship initiative of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government within this broader agenda.
He emphasized that the initiative was designed to bring essential agricultural services closer to the farmers by creating integrated service hubs in key farming regions.
He said the Centre would include mechanization services, access to inputs, extension and advisory support, storage and post harvest handling, market linkages and farmers training centres.
Adding that in effect, it would serve as a one-stop service point for registered farmers.
He said the Government planned to establish a total of 50 Farmer Services Centres in key farming industries, and this year they were starting with 11 of those centres, ensuring that farmers everywhere could access the tools they need to succeed.
He noted that that was why they were at Atakoratwene to cut the sod for the first Centre.
“We’re starting in the affluent place because it occupies a unique and strategic place in Ghana’s pursuit of food security,” he said.
“The District is endowed with vast arable lands, strong potential for maize, rice, soybean and livestock production, year-round water availability for irrigation, a hard-working and enterprising farming population.
“For these reasons, the government sees the plant as a vital agricultural growth corridor.”
President Mahama said the establishment of this Centre Takoratwene on approximately 12 acres of land was both strategic and timely.
He noted that when completed, it would improve access to mechanization services, provide ready markets for farmers, reduce post-harvest losses and increase productivity.
President Mahama said it would also create jobs, particularly for their youth; saying “this is how we transform agriculture through practical, targeted investments”.
The President announced that under the Farmer Services Centre initiative, the Government would roll out a free fertilizer package for farmers.
He also announced that construction of a bridge over the River Afram at Etse-Amanfrom to link up the Kwahu Afram Plains to the rest of the Eastern Region had been awarded on contract and that work would soon begin on it.
He said the road from Adawso to Agordeke would be constructed.
GNA
Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba