Government urged to establish market for food crops

Kuntanase (Ash), June 28, GNA - A farmer has appealed to the government to initiate measures to provide market for food crops as is done for cash crops.

This would not only boost and enhance the incomes of food crop farmers but would also serve as a motivation and entice the youth to go into farming in order to achieve the aim of the government to create employment for the youth.

Mr Clifford Boateng, the 2005 Ashanti Regional Best Farmer, said most of the youth are refusing to heed to the call by the government to go into farming due to lack of market.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Kuntanase, Mr Boateng also urged the government to provide identification cards to farmers to enable them access loans from the banks. He said the card would provide basic information on the farmers such as the type of activity he is engaged in, the district and the size of his farm would serve as a security for him to access loans from financial institutions.

Mr Boateng said even though cocoa was a major cash crop for the country, serious attention on other food crops would not only boost food production but would also increase the non-traditional exports of the country.