Farmers in Achiase District have called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to deploy Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs) to the district to provide farming services and facilitate dissemination of new extension technologies to farmers.
The farmers’ appeal followed an annual Research Extension farmer Linkage Committee (RELC) meeting held at Akyem Achiase in the Eastern Region.
Mr Abraham Quargraine, the Overall Achiase District Best Farmer 2020 said inadequate agric extension officers in Akenkansu, Aperade, Osoroase, and Achiase is one of the major issues of concern in the four operational zones.
He said farmers are limited when it comes to mechanised farming and called on the government to heed their request on time to bring them up-to-date with modern farming techniques to boost production.
Mr Kafui Safo, Director of Agriculture at Achiase District highlighted the importance of RELC that is basically to prioritise farmers’ constraints and finding successful actions to solving them.
The RELC was established by the MoFA and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The farmer groups expressed a lack of supply of subsidised fertiliser for cereals and legumes, vegetables, roots and tubers, fruits, and tree crops as some of the cross-cutting constraints.
It was therefore recommended that the agriculture department should intervene in providing farmers with enough subsidised fertiliser on time.
Mr Daniel Agyei – Dwarko, Eastern Regional RELC Coordinator, assured participants that the Agriculture Department would find a definite solution to the issue of improved variety of tomatoes which was not thriving in the area for many decades for its yield.
He advised farmers to cooperate with the few Agriculture Extension Agents in the area for them to be abreast with modern agriculture technologies, saying: “The appeal for adequate AEAs would be worked at.”
About 37 participants were drawn from agro-input dealers, farmers, food processors, consumers, and the Achiase District Assembly officials.
