Upper East youth groups grow tomatoes

Bolgatanga, Jan. 10, GNA - Youth groups in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region have cultivated 160 acres of tomato farms at Yariga, Zaare, and Yikine under the agricultural component of the Youth in Employment Programme (YEP). The Municipal Coordinator of the Programme, Mr. Ayimbire Alolga Agana, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga on Tuesday.

He said the municipal secretariat of YEP paid for the land and water levies, land preparation and supplied fertilizers and insecticides to the farmers.

Mr. Agana said many of the youth who migrated to the south in search of non-existent jobs had retuned and were profitably engaged on the land.

Mr. Agana said three pumping machines and 75 pressure pipes had been secured for the youth to undertake irrigation farming along the White Volta at Pwalugu near Bolgatanga. He said 5,727 Youth had been registered under the various segments of the programme and more were still rushing to register. Enumerating some of the challenges facing the programme, Mr. Agana mentioned the delay in the release of funds and the lack of means of transport to monitor the activities of YEP.