Farmers receive financial support from Agona Assembly

Agona Nkum (C/R), Dec 14, GNA - The Agona District Assembly with budgetary support from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is providing seven farming groups with loans totally 276 million cedis to expand their ventures. Mr Ben Mensah, District Chief Executive (DCE), addressing the District Farmers Day celebration at Nkum in the Central Region at the weekend identified the groups as the Kwame Ntsiful Vegetable Growers Association, Kwame Agyin People with Disability and the Kwanyako Vegetable Growers Association. The other groups are the Nyakrom People With Disability, Universal Agro Input (Agona Asafo), Sokae Farms Nyamedam and the Agona District Poultry Farmers. The District Assembly and the Nyakrom Traditional Council honoured 21 district best farmers and Madam Efua Frempomaa, 2004 national best farmer.

The District celebration of the National Best Farmers Day had to be postponed to enable Madam Frempomaa to hand over her sash and sword of office to this year's Best Farmer at the National Celebration at Navrongo last two weeks Friday. He said the Assembly would soon come out with a comprehensive agricultural policy to entice the youth to go into farming to increase food production. Mr Mensah said farmers would be supported with credit to embark on agro-processing to reduce the poverty level in the district. The DCE expressed regret that 80 percent of loans given to individuals in the district over the past five years had not been recovered and said that the Assembly was working out a new criteria for accessing a facility now available for poultry farmers. He appealed to loan defaulters to repay to enable others to benefit. Mr Mensah said the Assembly and MOFA were educating the public on the need to vaccinate their domestic animals and urged communities to form committees for the annual Anti-Rabies Campaign to be launched soon.