Farmer appeals to government ...

... to implement housing scheme for farmers
Awutu Gyakaw (C/R), Dec 31, GNA - The Acting President of the Ghana National association of Farmers and Fishermen, Nai Kwao Otuo V, has appealed to the government to expedite action on plans to construct houses for farmers in the regions on high purchase basis.

He said this at farmers' rally organized to round off activities initiated by the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District branch of the association at Awutu Gyakaw.

Nai Kwao Otuo attributed lack of interest developed by the youth in agriculture to absence of better housing and other incentives for peasant farmers in food growing areas.

He expressed optimism that if the government implemented the proposed housing project for farmers in the remote areas it would attract the youth who had abandoned their communities and migrated to the cities for non-existing jobs.

Nai Kwao Otuo suggested that apart from housing, the

Ministry of Food and Agriculture could also put in place a scheme

under which young farmers in rural areas could be supplied with

wax prints, suiting materials, televisions sets and radio sets on

high purchase basis periodically. Nai Kwao Otuo said scholarships for the children of farmers

could also be established at the district level to entice young men

and women into farming. He however advised farmers throughout the country to

continue to give off their best by producing adequate food,

industrial raw materials for home consumption and export. Nai Kwao Otuo, who was the 1994 Second Best National Best

Farmer, advised the farmers, especially food producers, not to

allow the poor pricing of their produce to deter them from

contributing their quota towards national goals. He appealed to them to encourage their children to cultivate

the love for farming to enable them to take over from them. 31 Dec 07

NSOC 004 Social DFP Factory DFP worry about the downward trend of Ayensu Starch Factory

Kofi Ansahkrom (C/R), Dec 31, GNA - The Deputy General

Secretary of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr John

Amekah, has expressed concern about the downward trend that

the Ayensu Starch Factory at Awutu Bawjiase had been

experiencing in the past three years. Mr Amekah said the collapse of the factory should be the

concern of all Ghanaians because loans granted to the nation for

the implementation of the project would be paid back to the

creditors. Besides, it had rendered hundreds, if not thousands of

farmers and workers, unemployed. Mr Amekah was addressing a rally organized by Awutu-Senya

Constituency leaders of the DFP at Kofi Ansahkrom on Saturday. He said even though the establishment of such a venture

was laudable, the factory had not been able to live up to

expectation and that it had been engulfed in administrative and

financial problems. Mr Amekah said, for instance, instead of using the bye

products such as the cassava peels to manufacture animal feed

and the chaff for gari, management left these vital components

to go waste. He called for a critical appraisal of the operations of the

factory to enable it to fulfil the dreams of thousands of cassava

growers in and outside Awutu-Effutu-Senya District as well as

the unemployed in the catchments area who had placed their

hope and trust in the factory.