Rice farmers receive over 2,000 bags subsidized fertilizer

The Navrongo-Tono Irrigation Co-operative Farmers Union in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region has taken delivery of two thousand, five hundred (2,500) bags subsidized fertilizer.

The move was in fulfillment of a promise made by the Minister for Food and Agriculture when the leadership of the Tono Irrigation Co-operative Farmers Union paid a courtesy call on him in Accra.

The Navrongo-Tono Dam is one of the largest irrigation Dams in West Africa which serves all year-round farming.

About Two Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety hectares of land is irrigated by the dam in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.

The Fertilizer subsidy programme is aimed at enhancing food production and security. The two types of fertilizer in the subsidy category are compound fertilizer and Urea.

It is expected to maximize the benefits of accelerated growth of the country and raise the average income of Ghanaians, especially peasant farmers.

Members of the Tono Irrigation Co-operative farmers Union who are mainly rice farmers cultivate thousands of hectares of farmland during the wet season and the dry season respectively.

Each hectare produces five point five metric tons. Farmers in the area described the move by MOFA to assist them with the subsidized fertilizer as timely.

In an interview with GBC’s Radio Ghana, a rice farmer at Biu a community in the Kassena-Municipality, John Akayapakra, commended government for the gesture.

In an interview with Radio Ghana, the Organizer of the Navrongo Tono Irrigation Co-operative farmers Union, Robert Kwame Apoka, praised government for the timely intervention and explained the procedure by which the fertilizers were distributed.

The farmers said the fertilizer offered them will boost production, hence the need for government to direct managers of the School Feeding Programme to patronize their rice.