Bawumia Promises Farmers Tractors and Credits to Enhance Farm Production

Flagbearer and leader of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged to support farmers with tractors and loans to support their farm business in order to enhance production.

According to the Vice President, the hike in food prices can be associated with the lack of support for farmers which eventually leads to high cost of production, hence, the provision of tractors and loans will help farmers produce more food to decrease food prices on the market.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia made this pledge during a campaign rally in Wa East in the Upper West region, where he acknowledged the vital roles farmers play in ensuring food security and affordability across the country.

He underscored the need to invest in the country’s agricultural sector noting that, it is one of the surest ways in lowering the food prices.

He therefore, stated that one of the objectives of the new NPP government is to make sure that farmers are provided with the requisite support to increase their production.

According to Dr. Bawumia, the likes of Brazil and China, where farmers produce 10 and 12 tons of maize per acre, respectively, compared to Ghana’s average yield of four tons per acre is nothing to be proud of, thus, the need to invest resources into the Agricultural sector.

Amongst many other promises is the promise of establishing “super aggregators” that would purchase produce directly from farmers, ensuring they receive fair prices and reducing post-harvest losses due to lack of ready market.

He also highlighted the importance of using lime fertilizers to improve soil fertility, noting that Ghana has an abundance of lime deposits.

Dr. bawumia said, “I want to help our farmers. Farming is the key to bringing food prices down and we are going to help the farmers increase their productivity. If you go to Brazil, an acre of land, maize can come to 10 tons, in China they can get 12 tons, but in Ghana, we get only four tons.

“I’m going to apply the practices that we are seeing that have worked in Brazil and in China to our farmers in the Wa East District, to increase productivity.”

“We are going to establish super aggregators who will come and buy the produce from the farmers so that the food does not go to waste and they can get good prices for their goods.

He further pledged, “We are going to help the farmers with tractors and with credit for them to harvest and we are going to move from the normal fertiliser to lime, lime makes our soil very fertile, and we have lime in Ghana and we are going to help our farmers use lime in Ghana.”

Kobina Darlington/