TOMATO FARMERS CRY FOR HELP (AUGUST 29, 2009)

AGRICULTURE remains the mainstay of our economy, despite efforts by successive governments to diversify.
We have about 70 per cent of our people living in the countryside, where their main occupation is agriculture. There is no way that the economy can boom, if we ignore the concerns of our farmers.
While people looking for land complain about the land tenure system, because of “abusa” and “abunu”, which are practices under a traditional system of sharing crops in which the sharecropper gives out half (abunu) or a third (abusa) of his yield to the landowner, there are other bottlenecks in the system that do not motivate people, especially the youth, to take to farming.
The banks are not interested in extending credit facilities to our farmers because of the high risk associated with agriculture and the government’s support to farmers by way of subsidies and inputs such as fertiliser, outboard motors and seedlings is woefully inadequate.
Sometimes, the support from the government or the banks get to the farmers when the farming season is over.
We are aware of certain policy interventions in the past and even now to stimulate agricultural production, but the most progressive so far was the ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ initiative during the General Acheampong regime.
Whatever the difficulties may be to motivate our youth to return to the land, the DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the government must do all within its power to rekindle interest in agriculture at all levels.
It is against this background that we welcome the decision of the government to allocate more than GH¢10 million to support the Youth in Agriculture programme. This may not be enough but it can mark a positive beginning.
However, the present level of subsistence agriculture cannot provide for the country’s growing population.
It is unpardonable that we are unable to provide ready market for our farmers when they produce in abundance every year, even at the subsistence level.
A classic example of farmers confronted with this perennial challenge are tomato farmers in the three regions in northern Ghana who are left at the mercy of traders.
The Northern Star Tomato Factory, which was rehabilitated about two years ago to buy tomato during the harvesting season, has not been able to do so for lack of funds.
Last year, there was bumper tomato harvest in the Upper East Region but the tomato farmers lost heavily because the factory was not functional, leading to low prices of the crop on the market and consequently a glut.
The DAILY GRAPHIC adds its voice to the appeal by the farmers to the government to, as a matter of urgency, provide funds to the factory to enable it to purchase the produce from the farmers.
Our farmers have been deprived of gains from the sweat of their labour for far too long because of the apparent lack of progressive policy initiatives in the agricultural sector.
In this day and age of science and technological advancement, we find it difficult to understand why tonnes of tomatoes and other farm produce go to waste because of the non-availability of processing facilities.
We can save ourselves the embarrassment of begging for food handouts if we develop the capacity to produce to feed ourselves and for export.