President declares ‘green revolution’
President John Dramani Mahama last Saturday declared the beginning of "Green Revolution " in Ghana when he cut the sod for the establishment of the first Farmers Services Centre in the country at Gwollu in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region.
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The Gwollu Services Centre is one of the first 50 centres the government planned to set up on a pilot basis. Most of the centres would be located in the Savanna Zone.
President Mahama said the funds for the establishment of the pilot centres had been secured.
When completed, the multi-purpose centre, which will have 10 tractors and accessories, will be a one-stop shop for the provision of services, including mechanisation, fertiliser distribution, extension services, produce marketing and provision of credit facilities to farmers.
“It’s going to revolutionise agriculture in this area," the President said at the brief ceremony.
"This sod-cutting ceremony marks the beginning of green revolution in Ghana," he said.
President Mahama said he had tasked the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure that the Gwollu project was completed by the end of this year.
Residents excited
A good number of residents of the town where the late President, Dr Hilla Limann, hailed from, trooped to a vast land at the outskirts of the town which had been prepared for the project.
The economy of the Sissala West District is predominantly agrarian. Majority of the people engage in subsistence farming, with a few engaged in commercial cotton farming.
The main crops are cereals such as millet, maize, sorghum and rice. There are also groundnut, cowpea, yam and cotton.
President Mahama told the people that the National Democratic Congress (NDC ) government was keen on enticing many young people to agriculture and added that the Farmers Services Centres were one of the initiatives to achieve the objective.
