Provide land banks for farming- Appeal Court Judge
Justice Isaac Douse, a Former Appeal Court Judge has called on the government to provide land banks for people especially the youth who might have the desire to go into commercial farming.
Justice Douse (Rtd), who is also the Chief Technical Advisor of the Centre for Greater Impact Africa, made the call speaking on the topic ‘Domestication’ when the Centre took its turn at the Ghana News Agency Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform.
He said getting access to large arable lands for farming was a big problem and therefore the government could acquire such lands and have land banks for farmers to apply for some, farm, make profit and then pay royalties to the government.
He added that Ghana’s land tenure system was problematic making it difficult for people to have access for lands, while the available lands were also being used for residential purposes.
He also suggested that apart from the land banks, there was the need for zoning of the lands according to the crops that thrived in the area.
In that way, he said farmers could be directed to areas and lands that supported crops they were interested in cultivating.
Justice Douse (Rtd), who was also the Chairman of the Ghana@50 Commission, bemoaned the bad management of land in the country as he questioned the work being done by people trained in land economy.
He said because of the importance of land, some countries such as Hong Kong, adopted vertical building methodology instead of horizontal system.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager, Ghana News Agency, said the Industrial News Hub Board Room dialogue was to offer state and non-state actors an opportunity to throw light on the economy from a non-political lens.
He said “as journalists we need to be well informed on issues, before we can effectively educate the public”.
Mr Ameyibor added that as the fourth estate of the realm, there was the need for the GNA-Tema office to help the public to reach out to the government and people in authority with their issues, while bringing the understanding of government’s policy to the people.
He said the office had initiated a number of flagship programmes including; the boardroom dialogue to provide the platform for state and non-state actors to interact and discuss national issues.
Mr Ameyibor announced that the GNA Tema dubbed the Industrial News Hub was to introduce two other programmes namely; “My Constituency My Agenda”, and “My District My Agenda” to respectively give opportunity to Members of Parliament and other politicians, as well as the various district assemblies and their chief executives, coordinating directors and departmental heads to talk about their activities.
Source: GNA