The New Juaben South Municipal Assembly in collaboration with the New Juaben North Municipal Assembly have organized a Research Extension Linkage Committee (RELC) workshop for 70 farmers.
The workshop aimed to dialogue and develop an Action Plan for 2019 while the output of RELC Planning Session would be used to develop agricultural activities and budgeting for next year.
In an address at the opening of the workshop, the New Juaben South Municipal Chief Executive, Madam Comfort Asante, who oversees the activities of the North Municipality, said the meeting would go a long way to determine the success of agricultural progress for the next year.
Madam Asante noted that the current government's agenda for development depended on agriculture, hence the launch of several agricultural programmes to improve livelihood and create employment for the unemployed.
She expressed disappointment that although government had reduced the cost of farm inputs by fifty percent (50%) to boost their production, farmers still felt reluctant to purchase those inputs.
According to her, the government had operationalised the Modernising Agriculture Ghana (MAG) funding--a collaborative programme between Ghana and Canadian partners-- as a result of which all Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAS) had improved resources into the agriculture sector.
She disclosed that government had begun the process of procuring vehicles for Directors of Agriculture and three thousand (3000) motorbikes as well as the extension logistics to augment the activities of the Agricultural Sector.
"I must admit that the New Juaben Municipalities are loosing all of it prime lands for agriculture to estate development. This notwithstanding, we must strife and make impact in the areas of agriculture production and productivity within the two Municipalities" she noted.
Madam Asante urged participants to contribute meaningful so that the agricultural directorates could improve the agriculture sector in the country.
On his part, Mr Kofi Amoako Tweneboah, New Juaben South Municipal Director of Agriculture, underscored the importance of the RELC Planning Session as a platform for farmers and major stakeholders in agriculture to deliberate and try every possible solution to solve farmers' problems on the field.
This arrangement, Mr Tweneboah said, would help the agricultural sector to have fair idea of next years' action plan.
He advised farmers to see farming as their prior profession which required total commitment, adding that they should not compromise on quality, but make agriculture attractive to generations to come.
Source: ISD (Collins Aikins Akuffo)
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