President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed his commitment to fulfilling the campaign promise he made towards establishing Farmer Service Centres across the country, to improve access to affordable mechanisation services and farm inputs.
He said the yet-to-be presented 2026 national budget had made provision for the establishment of the first eleven Farmer Service Centres to mark the beginning of a new regime of agricultural mechanisation in the country.
President Mahama’s reaffirmation followed a concern by the Paramount Chief of Guli Traditional Area, Naa Seidu Braima Nubalanaa, of the high cost of tractor services and farm inputs such as fertiliser in the region.
The Paramount chief raised the concern in his address at Guli during the sod-cutting ceremony for the Big Push Infrastructure Projects in the Upper West Region.
Naa Nubalanaa observed that despite its high food production potential, the cost of ploughing and inputs was “far beyond the reach of many farmers” in the region.
“We appeal to the government to make tractor services accessible within the reach of farmers.
If we have many tractors in the region, ploughing cost is reduced, many more farmers will go into commercial farming,” the revered chief said.
Naa Nubalanaa also appealed to the President to consider developing irrigation dams in some parts of the region to enable the people practice all-year-round farming to help reduce the rural-urban mobility in search of non-existent jobs.
In response to the appeal, the President announced that 50 sites had already been identified in key food-growing zones across the country for the establishment of the centres.
He explained that each Farmer Service Centre would be equipped with equipment, such as tractors, combine harvesters, and maize shellers, among others, to enhance productivity.
President Mahama also announced the government’s plans to develop irrigation facilities in the country to promote all-year-round farming and enhance food security.
He noted, for instance, that the reliance of northern Ghana on a single rainy season for farming limited agricultural output and kept farmers in the area idle for several months each year.
“One of the major problems with food security in Ghana is that we have a single farming season. After the rains are gone, we sit again for another six months until the next rains come.
In many countries, when they harvest, they are planting again, and that is the kind of agriculture we want to encourage in Ghana,” President Mahama explained.
He encouraged farmers to take advantage of the yet-to-be-developed irrigation facilities to do all-year farming, not only to enhance the nation’s food security, but to help boost their economic resilience.
Mr Charles Lwanga Puozuing, the Upper West Regional Minister, said the people of the region had confidence in the leadership of the President Mahama-led government and anticipated the fruition of the project.
He said they believed the project would not just start but see progress and completion, bringing the long-awaited relief to the hard-working men, women and youth who ply this road daily.
GNA