Help tap wealth of Fumbisi Rice valley – DCE

The Fumbisi Rice Valley in the Builsa South District has a huge potential for meeting the food needs of the nation, the District Chief Executive of the area, Mrs Elizabeth Jane Afiuc has noted.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Fumbisi, the DCE said if the given the requisite attention, the large tract of rice valley could also help to solve the unemployment problems in the country.

The DCE, therefore, appealed to the private sector, foreign investors, and development partners, to partner the relatively new district and the farmers to help tap the potentials.

She said an arrangement could be made with the School Feeding Programme and boarding schools, particularly, those in the northern parts of the country to purchase rice from the area to feed their schools.

This, the DCE said, would be in conformity with the President’s Special Initiative for Ghanaians to consume made in Ghana goods to help boost the national economy.

Mrs Afiuc said getting tractor services and combined harvesters were major problems of the farmers.

The Assembly, she said, would collaborate with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to sensitise the rice farmers to curb bush fires in the area.

She said the district had a bright future, while plans were underway to expand the Fumbisi Market, which was one of the largest markets in the country, to boost trade and to help the Assembly to generate internal revenue.

The district had already chalked some successes, which included the construction of Nurses and Teachers quarters and the rehabilitation of feeder roads in collaboration with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority's Millennium Villages Project (SADA-MVP), she said.

On the education and health fronts, the DCE said the Assembly had put up some schools, teachers’ and nurses’ quarters with more developmental projects in the pipeline.

According to the Government of Ghana website, the Builsa District created in 2012, is one of the eight Districts in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

The District has 155 communities clustered into eight zones, namely:

Sandema, Chuchuliga, Wiaga, Siniensi/Doninga/Bachonsa, Kadema, Gbedema/Kanjarga, Chansa/Gobsa, and Fumbisi /Gbedembilisi/Wiesi/Uwasi.

The official source says preliminary exploratory work carried out in the District indicates that the area abounds in large quantities of several mineral deposits ranging from Gold, Chromites, Rutile Jasper Talc, Lime, Feldspars, Nepheline Syenite to varied types of clay.

Some of the main constraints, however, are land degradation and desertification, seasonal water shortages arising from the extended dry season, poor road network and the recurrent natural disasters like rain and wind storms and floods.