The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has expressed its readiness to crop to ensure food abundance, following assurances of good rains and favourable weather conditions by the Ghana Meteorological Authority (GMet).According to the farmers, they were prepared to take advantage of the good weather conditions as predicted and produce bountifully, however, they would require the government's support in terms of seeds, fertilisers, and tools to enhance their productivity.This is to avert the drought which led to significant crop losses and affected the main farming season, particularly in key food production zones in the northern parts of the country.While the government intervened with measures like a ban on grain exports to address the looming food crisis, some farmers lost their entire investments and require financial support to replant.Peasant farming also known as smallholder farming plays a significant role in the country's agricultural sector, contributing to about 70 per cent of the agricultural sector.It is estimated that about 60 per cent of all farms in the country are less than 1.2 hectares in size, and small-size and medium-size farms of up to 10.0 hectares account for 95 per cent of the cultivated land.
Similarly, nearly 52 per cent of the country's labour force is engaged in agriculture, with about 39 per cent of these being women.Speaking to The Ghanaian Times, the President of the Association, Mr Wepia Awal Adugwala, said although the government had begun distributing fertilisers in some districts already, it was hoped that the exercise would be expedited to get to all corners of the country especially the northern parts of the country.He said in addition to supplying farmers with the necessary inputs, the government must also partner the association to put in place mechanisms to prevent the expected rains from causing floods to safeguard their crops.He noted that in the short term, the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region would help address the persistent flooding of most part of the north, provide irrigation, hydropower generation and serve as flood control measure for the farmers.Adugwala said the Pwalugu multipurpose dam and the One-Village-Dam projects held the key to solving the perennial drought challenges that affected farmers in the five regions of the north."Nowadays, due to climate change issues, the weather is not predictable, so we are hoping for good rains, but of course, we cannot put our plans on just hoping.The government has to make sure irrigation facilities are well constructed to irrigate the lands to enable our farmers grow more to ensure sufficiency," he said.Mr Adugwala commended government for the launch of the Feed Ghana Programme, a nationwide initiative aimed at boosting agricultural productivity while creating employment opportunities across the country.He said the farmers were forming cooperatives in all communities, as directed by the Ministry of Agriculture, to ensure that fertilisers, seedlings and tools from the Ministry directly get to the farmers without middlemen.Mr Adugwala said that the PFA was well organised and could play a critical role in the distribution of government support to farmers, adding that "We believe that the government should work directly with the farmer's associations so that the input can get to our members without interference from the District Chief Executive and government appointees.""We are expecting the government to work on the final validation of the Feed Ghana programme document, and we expect that the government would expedite actions to ensure that input of fertiliser, chemicals, and seedlings are well distributed," he said.He said the farmer's service centres played a crucial role in supporting and empowering farmers in various forms such as access to valuable information sharing, resources related to agriculture practice, crop management, and pest control, among others. BY BERNARD BENGHAN
