Fodder banks lie idle in Afram Plains

Four fodder banks built by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in the Afram Plains to confine and monitor Fulani cattle are not being utilized due to lack of veterinary personnel and other qualified staff to man them.

There are only two veterinary personnel catering for the large number of cattle, sheep, goats, fowls and other domestic animal in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District.

Mr. Isaac Mensah, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer-in-charge of the Kwahu Afram Plains North District Directorate of MOFA, made this known to the GNA Media Auditing and Development Tracking Team at Donkorkurom.

He said the fodder banks were built at Wawase, Forifori, Mem-chemfre and Amankwakrom on 872 hectares of land and financed with part of the 32.5 million dollars Afram Plains Agriculture Fund to monitor the large influx of Fulani cattle.

It is to enable the Kwahu Afram Plains North and the Kwahu Afram Plains South District assemblies to collect revenue from the cattle owners and also prevent the cattle from destroying farm produce.

Mr. Mensah said the fodder banks had been fenced and provided with dugout water for the animals built, four nutrition and health centers with weighing systems and a padlock where veterinary services will be provided. He said though facilities had been completed and handed over to the district assemblies, they are not due to lack of personnel to man them.

Mr. Mensah said at the end of the project in 2013, 34,000 famers were trained on improved methods of farming, marketing and evaluation.

He said part of the fund was used to build 18-bore holes in the communities to provide portable water to the people while 165 kilometers of feeder roads were built to connect 50 communities to enable them transport their farm produce to marketing centers.