Cashew farmers secure GH¢50,000 fund for advocacy

The Kroye Farmers Association, a group made up of cashew farmers in the Techiman North District, has secured GH¢50,000.00 to implement a project to address challenges affecting the growth of the cashew industry in the district.

The nine-month advocacy project is being funded by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its development partners – Danish Development International Agency (DANIDA), European Union (EU) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Offuman, a farming community near Tuobodom, Mr Isaac Adaebsah, the Secretary of the Kroye Farmers Association, which has 609 members, said cashew farming is very lucrative and has the potential to speed up rapid socio-economic growth and development.

He there is the need for the government to support cashew farmers by providing them with incentive packages, saying if the sector was made attractive it could address the unemployment problem facing the country.

Mr Adaebsah expressed discomfort over perennial bushfires which were causing extensive destruction to cashew farms in the area and thanked the BUSAC fund for the support.

He said there was a sharp increase in farmers’ income in 2017 due to reduction in bushfire cases in the District and called on the District Assembly to enact bye-laws to check bush burning.

Nana Yaw Debrah, the Chairman of the Kroye Farmers Association, said the Association was acquiring 150 acres of land for cashew farming saying the cash crop had huge economic gains.

Source: GNA