Grasscutter farmers seek expert veterinary advice

Mr Kwasi Afena, Brong-Ahafo Regional Chairman of Grassscutter Farmers Association (BARGFA) has appealed to government for assistance through the Public- Private-Partnership (PPP).

He said lack of technical support and inadequate extension services had resulted in farmers losing all their investments and this scared away prospective farmers.

Mr Afena said this when presenting a concept paper at a day’s workshop organised by the Association with assistance from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund.

The workshop was aimed at finding solutions to challenges that confronted the domesticated grasscutter farmer and ways to commercialise the production of grasscutter.

He said the high incidence of business collapse was due to the high death rate of starter stock breed.

“The agricultural extension officers mandated to offer technical support are not able to do so due to their limited knowledge and expertise,” he said.

Mr Afena attributed the cause to their unified mode of training where extension officers learnt a little bit of everything in the sub-sector without specialisation.

He called for specialised training of extension officers that would enable farmers and prospective farmers have access to experts in specialised areas.

Mr Afena called on veterinary officers to help ascertain the causes of death of starter stock breed.

He said the grasscutter industry had the potential of creating wealth, reducing unemployment and generating revenue for the government and called for assistance to encourage the grasscutter farmer to venture into large scale production to meet the high demand.

He encouraged favourites of the delicacy of grasscutter to discard the notion that the domesticated grasscutter was not as tasty as those in the wild.

Dr Cyril Quist, Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of MOFA, advised the farmers to keep proper documentation on their production activities to enable them measure their output.

Source: GNA