Daffiama, (UW/R), Nov. 11, GNA – Some farmers at Daffiama in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) District have decried the difficulty in accessing agricultural mechanization services at the community, which they say, stifles their farming activities.
They said all efforts to expand their farming activities were thwarted due to the lack of mechanization services such as ploughing, planting, and harvesting equipment.
Mr Eric Confidence Tiesaa, a commercial farmer at Daffiama, raised the concern in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Daffiama.
He noted that agriculture could be an alternative in reducing the growing youth unemployment in the country if proper structures were put in place to address the challenges inherent in the sector.
“Farming can transform the lives of the people. We can supply Ghana and even for export if we are supported to farm more. The land is there but the strength is not there, we can’t farm much with our manpower”, he explained.
The farmers, therefore, appealed to the government and agricultural sensitive Non- governmental Organisations to support them with farming equipment to enable them to improve on their farming activities.
Mr Emmanuel Zinye Tiesaa, another farmer in the community, commended the Wullingdool Mustardseed Consultancy, an agricultural based consultancy organization in the region, for taking the initiative to offer consultancy services to farmers to enable them to improve on their farming activities.
Mr Emmanuel W. Wullingdool, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the consultancy firm, told the GNA that agriculture, “is a green area that the youth can explore but the government’s support for the sector is low”.
He acknowledged the laudable interventions of the government in the agricultural sector but that much needed to be done if the maximum potentials in the sector were to be reaped.
Mr Wullingdool urged the government to prioritise the agricultural sector to help encourage the youth into the sector since that could help reduce the high rate of unemployment in the country.
GNA