Yam farmers lacking modern technology in yam production

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• MENSAH 11 years ago

  PUNA,I should think,is the best tasty YAM in the world.I have eating many different types of yams but our's in Ghana is the best.WHY DON'T GHANA FIND A WAY TO PROCESS IT SO IT COULD BE EXPORTED LIKE FRENCH FRIES,YOU GHANAIANS ...
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  PUNA,I should think,is the best tasty YAM in the world.I have eating many different types of yams but our's in Ghana is the best.WHY DON'T GHANA FIND A WAY TO PROCESS IT SO IT COULD BE EXPORTED LIKE FRENCH FRIES,YOU GHANAIANS ARE DYING FOR?YOU WOULD ALL BE SURPRISED TO KNOW OR HEAR THAT IF OUR PUNA COULD BE CULTIVATED OVER HERE IN NORTH AMERICA,EACH TUBE WOULD HAVE BEEN PROCESSED FOR EXPORTS AND ABUNDONE THEIR FRENCH FRIES YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY ABOUT.We have to find a way to process it for exports and not just the technology for its growth alone.THIS IS MY ADVISE TO ALL GHANAIANS INCLUDING JOHN MAHAMA.

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• kwasi 11 years ago

  u are right.

  u are right.

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• MANAM 11 years ago

  yea Mensah, puna is one of the best yams in the world. the correct name is 'kpena'. the best yam among the farmers is called 'lanko',popularly called larebeko . there are others such as, ponjo, mankyes, afebetua etc. i speak ...
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  yea Mensah, puna is one of the best yams in the world. the correct name is 'kpena'. the best yam among the farmers is called 'lanko',popularly called larebeko . there are others such as, ponjo, mankyes, afebetua etc. i speak as a son of a typical yam farmer in a cottage. i support your suggestion of processing yam for export to generate income for our farmers and the government of Ghana and beyond. but the problem is, if proper attention is no taken to support yam farmers, the processors will be disassemble in the near future due to lack of raw materials for production, thereby causing financial loss to the state. yam farming is one of the most capital and labour intensive sectors of farming. mensah, almost 99.9% of yam farmers still use the traditional method, (hoe and machete) of farming and most are far away from the marketing centres. it is cultivated only one in the year and within a specific time. due to the nature of cultivation, farmers rely sole on the weather,(rainfall) which is not predictable in these days of global warming. if the weather fails, the doomed for the year because he cant replant until the following year. on the other hand, when the weather favours the farmer, other farmers as well will have good harvest and as the markets are flooded, prices fall drastically as economics teaches us. transporting the product to the marketing centres are as difficult as its cultivation and sale. for the past sixty one years my father has cultivated yam every single year since he was six years. now he sells over fifteen thousand tubers every year but he has no even a bank account. not because he doesn't know banking nor interested in having one but what is left after every sale is so scanty to be kept. yams only grow well in the fertile soil which is quite expensive to hire these days just as the labour to work on. after hiring the land, one needs labourers to clear the land, prune tree and set fire under each of them because can not grow well under the shade of trees yet they need the trees as they are climbing plants. making of mounds is one of the most difficult parts of it all. planting yam needs expects not as easy as we think. the farmer must study the weather carefully in order to catch enough rain. if you plant when the soil is so moist the seedlings will rot on the other hand if the soil is moist with lots of sun shine, the seedlings will 'cook up' and rot. if its sun shine through out too the heat will roast them in the mounds. the farmer weeds under the yam thrice before harvesting. just as planting, first harvest needs some expertise as only the tuber is carefully taken out from the plant in the mounds without damaging the roots. this will help in the formation of the seedlings to be used the following year. through out this topic no where did i mentioned farm tractors, bulldozers, fertilizers, weedicides, pesticides, weather forecast, bonuses, scholarships for children of these farmers yet cocoa and other tree crop farmers do enjoy most of them from the government. for the whole of my fathers carrer he worked so hard to have good education for us but i am only an shs graduate. he couldn't afford to pay my university course fees of less than two thousand dollars a year. well we changed our objective and tried to get a common used farm tractor to help us but we have no been able to achieve this since i completed shs in 1998. my dreams are now started and you are talking of processing, where the exporters and other middle men will prosper further? mensah, pray that the only good Lord will turn to us, (yam producers) in Ghana so that our children will suffer the same fate as we are currently facing. may the lord touch the harden hearts of our leaders to remember our children and offer the better incentives to continue to feed our land and country. JUSKAMA (maxi3g@yahoo.com)

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• Ujah 11 years ago

  Ghana has a lot of potential in agriculture, but there is the African disease,that go with these massive potential ,nepotism , putting round perks in square holes.How do you train a fisherman to rice farming,how does he ...
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  Ghana has a lot of potential in agriculture, but there is the African disease,that go with these massive potential ,nepotism , putting round perks in square holes.How do you train a fisherman to rice farming,how does he know when to clear, harrow,plough clean the farm and harvest the rice. So we are not serious we want tobe rich quickly without learning or giving the right people the chance to develop their potential. Yam production ,preservation and processing needs those who know it not those who can highjack projects to make money,they will surely fail.

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