Agric firm to assemble equipment for Northern Ghana farmers on credit
STEGINA Investment Ltd, an agricultural investment company based in Tamale, is to assemble agricultural equipment for farmers on credit to give agricultural development in the area a boost.
The beneficiary farmers will get tractors and combine harvesters with their spare parts, after paying an initial deposit to cover part of the total cost.
They will then be given a one-year grace period to pay the rest of the cost of the implements.
A representative of Stegina Investment Ltd, Mr Felix Otchere, announced this at a forum for farmers organised by the Farmers Organisation Network in Ghana (FONG), a network of small-scale farmers and fishermen organisations in Ghana.
He said the network extended its services to the northern part of the country to help farmers to do farming as a business by shifting from subsistence farming to commercial farming.
Mr Otchere asked the farmers to form smaller farmer-based organisations to enable them to access credit from banks.
He said technicians of his company would help the farmers to maintain and repair the equipment they would buy.
An official of Grameen Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Tamale, Dr Nashiru Sulemana, expressed concern about the inadequate investment in agriculture in northern Ghana to enhance food security.
He stressed the need for massive investment in areas such as mechanisation, irrigation, extension services and provision of storage facilities in the north to enhance food security.
Dr Sulemana thanked NGOs in the country for providing consultancy services to farmers and for also organising and strengthening their capacity to take advantage of available opportunities.
The Vice-President of the FONG, Chief Issahaku Jesiwuni, said the forum was very important to farmers as it would afford them the opportunity to engage relevant authorities to address the critical challenges of agriculture in the north.
He said FONG had always supported its members to make farming a profitable and attractive business through information sharing, networking, capacity building, advocacy and lobbying and coordination of activities of small-scale farmers.
“We, particularly, pay attention to strengthening women farmers’ organisations as a key strategy to achieving food security and rural transformation,” he added.
Source: Daily Graphic