The Kontihene of Asante Akyem Agogo traditional area, Nana Kwame Nti Asante has refuted claims on some media platforms that the farmers at Agogo have converted from plantain farming to cashew farming. He said this when Agric Today paid a visit to him at his palace. According to him, Asante Akyem Agogo is well noted for plantain farming since the 1980s and it has contributed immensely in the development of the community and the nation by extension.
“We have NOT converted from plantain farming to cashew farming as some of the social media platforms are suggesting. Plantain is our major cash crop. We could harvest about fifty (50) articulated tracks of plantain in a day and traders come all the way from Togo, Burkina Faso and other neighbouring countries to buy plantain from here. Agogo is, perhaps, the highest producer of plantain in West Africa. Therefore, there are possibly no reasons which would compel my people to switch to cashew farming at the expense of plantain. Yes, there may be one or two individual farmers who are trying their hands on cashew farming but even that I have no knowledge about any such development”, Nana Kwame Nti Asante said.
Plantain farming has been a major farming activity in this town since the ’80s when we witnessed the massive fire destruction of our cocoa farms in an unprecedented scale. By then, Cocoa was the major cash crop in this region and our Cocoa was considered the best nationwide in terms of quality. Following the destruction of the many thousands of acres of the Cocoa farms, the Forestry Commission took over the land and planted trees on it to prevent possible desertification in the area. A year later we decided test the fertility of the land for cultivation of food crops- so we planted plantain in between the trees. Amazingly, in a twist of fate, we had a rich harvest. Since then Agogo has taken to plantain farming as a supplement, or replacement rather, for Cocoa and has risen to become the leading producer of plantain even ahead of the likes of Goaso in Brong Ahafo Region.
He added that, not only is Agogo the leader in plantain farming but the community is also noted for producing vegetables like cabbage, okra, pepper and such fruits as watermelon and banana in fairly large scales.
