Adentan farmers express concern over destructive stray animals
Crop farmers in the Adentan Municipality, a suburb of Accra, have expressed concern about destruction of their farms by stray animals.
According to them, they were always threatened by the cattle owners anytime they tried to ward off the animals.
They have, therefore, appealed to officials of the assembly to register all cattle owners in the municipality in order to bring them to book, anytime the animals invaded the farm to destroy crops.
The farmers disclosed this at a stakeholder meeting organised by the Directorate of Agriculture of the Adentan Municipal Assembly, on Thursday, in Accra.
The meeting sought to sensitise the participants on the government’s programme earmarked for them this farming season as well get a first-hand information on their challenges towards charting a new way forward.
It attracted cropfarmers and Marketers Association at Aviation, Trassacco, University farms and the Women in Poultry Value Added Chain.
A crop farmer at Aviation, Awal Yidana, said the 30 animals comprising cows and goats totally destroyed his maize farm last year, and urged officials of the assembly to bring the cattle owners to book in order to averred any confrontation
He said he had once marched some animals to the assembly but nothing was done to the owners, warning that they were peace loving group and would not tolerate such acts during this farming season.
Another farmer, Benjamin Osei, also appealed for more support to combat the Fall Army Worm that had invaded their farms.
According to him, the worms re-surfacedto consume the crops, two weeks after spraying the farms, and he did not know what to do again.
Mr Osei urged the directorate to provide them with a tractor to plough their farms and also help them with subsidised seeds for improved productivity.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Ebenezer Doku, commended the group for the tolerance, and
freely expressing their grievances and assured that everything possible would be done to address their concerns.
He urged the farmers to take advantage of the second phase of the Planting for Food and Jobs phase two by registering online to benefit from the package, including tractor services. On the issues of unavailability of land for large-scale farming, the MCE urged the farmers to explore other innovative methods since they were all vegetable farmers which was dear to the heart of the assembly.
The Director of Agriculture, Ms Rosemond Adzewuda, urged the farmers to use recycled containers as an alternative for lack of land to expand their farms.
She indicated that the directorate would increase its home visit to train them on modern methods of farming and also vaccinate their animals.
The Head of the National Youth Authority, Humu Yakubu Ibrahim, urged the youth, ages 15 and 35, especially women in agriculture and marketers to register with the authority to benefit from available grants.
