Women farmers at Bongo appeal for support to market produce
The 2016 Best Woman Farmer in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region, Mrs Esther Alangture, has called on the government to help them market their produce.
Advertisement
She said her harvest for the 2015 farming season was locked up in storage due to lack of market and she was expecting a good harvest this year, which will add to last year's produce.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of this year's District Farmers’ Day at Vea in the Bongo District, Mrs Alangture said she cultivates 30 acres of maize, 10 acres of soya beans, 10 acres of rice and 10 acres of sorghum.
Agronomic practices
She said with support from the USAID Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) project, she organised training for 400 farmers in modern agronomic practices and also offered tractor services to farmers for long-term payment.
With regard to animal husbandry, she has 30 fowls, 150 guinea fowls, 10 sheep, 20 goats and 37 cows.
She said the road condition in the district was also inhibiting the transportation of farm produce to the markets and appealed to government to make their roads accessible from the farms to market centres.
For her part, the Best Shea nut picker, Madam Akua Anafo, called on the Bongo District Security Committee to flush out fulani herdsmen from the area.
She said they were in constant fear of attacks and rape from these fulani herdsmen when picking shea nut in the bush and had, therefore, devised a means of moving in groups to avoid these attacks.
The Bongo District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Edgar Drah, said the land tenure system in the region was preventing a larger number of women from winning awards.
Cultural practices
He said 90 per cent of farmers in the district were women but because they were not in possession of land due to cultural practices, they named their husbands as owners of their farms.
The District Chief Executive for Bongo, Mr Alexis Ayamdoo Adugdaa said, registered input dealers sold 4,524 bags of fertiliser to 824 registered farmers under the Fertiliser Subsidy Programme this farming season.
Seventeen farmers and fisherfolk, including four women, were given awards in the Bongo district during this year’s Farmers Day celebrations.
The women were Mrs Esther Alangture, who was adjudged the Best Woman Farmer, Madam Akua Anafo as the Best Shea nut Picker, Madam Akabeni Abaah as the Best Millet Farmer and Madam Lydia Atunbire as the Best Fishmonger.