Government has established a number of farming facilities in various deprived communities to enhance agriculture in the country and ensure farmers experience a major boost during harvest.
Addressing the entire nation on the floor of Parliament this morning, President Mills disclosed that the government has over the years supplied some sophisticated farm implements such as rice combine harvesters and maize harvesters to farmers to strengthen the sector.
Touting the achievements of government in his three years of administration, President Mills stressed that the government has revamped the cotton industry to increase the production of cotton in the country. This he says is government’s intervention to safeguard cotton farmers against any harsh conditions.
President Mills was confident “cotton farmers in the three northern regions will attest to the fact that there has been a revival of the cotton industry and government has also made the necessary intervention which has resulted in an increase in cotton production.”
The President added that under his administration, the first phase of 11000-hectare irrigation project in Accra has been completed and several irrigation dams between 2009 and 2011 have been established to ease the work of farmers in the country.
President John Mills commended his government for achieving an enormous success in the production of cocoa in the country. He emphasized that one million tons of cocoa have been produced as at 2009 as compared to the 600 tons of cocoa by the previous government, the first ever in the annals of the nation’s history.
“For the first time in the history of this country, we produced more than one million tonnes of cocoa in 2011.” he underscored.
He added the government has achieved a 50% output in cocoa production since last year and has outperformed previous governments.
He further said that 80% of the world market price which stood at 2450 dollars in January 2012 has been paid to farmers for the sustenance of the agricultural sector. He continued that a new Shea nut industry has been established in Buipe, Northern Region, to churn in large quantities Shea butter for exports to enhance productivity.
The newly established Shea nut industry will produce 40000 tons of Shea nut per year.
Government has also partnered the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to launch a six-year cocoa replanting programme which will create more job opportunities for prospective farmers.
“Madam Speaker, government through COCOBOD has launched a six-year cocoa replanting programme to rehabilitate old cocoa farms. The programme entails the production of a neat cocoa hybrid seedlings for planting.One of the objectives is to offer employment opportunities to young men in the cocoa growing areas throughout the period of the programme and also to enable them acquire skills and technics for cocoa production. Another objective is to encourage under-producing farmers to increase their acreage and their yield.” President said before the house.
President Mills also touched on the fishing sector as he revealed that government has acquired fishing boats to improve the fishery sector and also improve the livelihood of fishers in the country.
He called for strict enforcement of the fishing regulations to guide fishers and further stated that a Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Plan will soon be drawn to administer the activities of the occupants in the fishing sector.
Story by Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/X fm 95.1/Accra/Ghana
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