Cotton Farmers Give Government Ultimatum

Leadership of the Cotton Farmers Association of Ghana has given government two weeks ultimatum to provide them a stimulus package to farm during the upcoming farming season or have the defunct cotton industry totally collapsed.

They complained that members of the Cotton Farmers Association in the three regions of the north were dying of hunger and poverty and that the prevailing circumstance could negate Ghana’s cotton production if government fails to support them.

Nashiru Adam, National Secretary of the Cotton Farmers Association of Ghana at a news conference held in Tamale renewed the association’s call on government to urgently address the numerous constraints confronting the cotton industry as a means of rejuvenating the sector. He revealed that management of the Ghana Cotton Company Limited in Tamale owed cotton farmers in the three Northern regions billions of Ghana cedis which has rendered them jobless for the past three years.

Nashiru Adam noted that government’s introduction of the free school uniform concept will be an exercise in futility if nothing is done to revamp the cotton industry to accelerate the activities of the Akosombo and Juapon textile companies. He specifically requested government’s support in the area of farm machinery and inputs to enable the farmers go into this year’s farming season which begins in earnest. Nashiru Adam however commended President John Mills for visiting the Ghana Cotton Company in Tamale during a familiarization tour and urged the President to quicken his pace on the promises he made to alleviate the plight of the poor cotton farmers.