We Are Committed To The Welfare Our Farmers Despite Their Current Challenges – Kintampo Cooperative Yam Producers.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Kintampo Cooperative Yam Producers & Marketing Society Ltd, Mr John Njonam has stressed his outfit’s commitment to seek the welfare of the farmers especially, those farmers who specialize in yam production.
The PRO was speaking to the correspondent on telephone from Kintampo in reaction to the price hike of yam in addition to its shortages in the urban cities in the country.
According to Mr John Njonam, the situation is though unfortunate, no farmer or any individual can be blamed about the price hike as well as its shortages in the country.
He summary linked the issue to the last year’s heavy downpour that washed away several acres of yam farms within the major areas where yams are produced on large scale
Describing the heavy downpour as a natural disaster, he further cited instances where some Fulani herdsmen have become obstacles in the activities of farmers.
These Fulani herdsmen he reiterated, allow their cattle to destroy the farms of farmers and go scot free as a result of the alleged links and influence they have with some chiefs and government officials in their areas of operation.
The PRO also mentioned the scarcity of lands, and the land owners inability to release their lands to the farmers expect only the cashew producers.
The aforementioned challenges he hinted, are the root cause and challenges confronting farmers in the current yam production in Kintampo, a town widely known to be the largest yam producers in Ghana and for that matter West Africa in general.
Mr John Njonam asserted that currently demands are higher than supply as the neighborhood countries like Burkina Fasso, Ivory Coast, Togo among others who come down to Kintampo with their trucks on business missions hardly get their full demands.
He said the situation would be worse off if the last year’s natural disaster in the form of heavy downpour repeated itself.
He disclosed that the Kintampo Cooperative Yam Producers & Marketing Society Ltd, which believes in decent livelihood, the outfit’s queen mother Nana Afia Amea and the management are financially assisting farmers whose farms were washed away by the downpour to be on their feet.
The Society he maintained, has also collaborated with the officials of the Agric Sector to educate the farmers to become abreast with what they should do to ensure bumper harvest, fire, security controls among others to enable them save their farms.
We have also been acting on behalf of the farmers who fall victims on the Fulani herdsmen by defending them at the police stations and courts for compensations, Mr Njonom concluded.
