‘Your farm produce will no longer rot in farms’ – Bawumia assures farmers

The 2024 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has promised farmers that their produces are no longer going to rot in farms when he becomes President.

Speaking at a rally in Funsi in the Wa East Constituency in the Upper West Region, the Vice President said the state will employ aggregators who will go to farms and purchase produce from farmers so that the food doesn’t go waste. This, he added will also help farmers get good prices for their goods.

“We are going to help the farmers with tractors and with credit” particularly for female farmers.

Dr Bawumia also revealed that he plans to help farmers in Ghana make use of lime and fertiliser in farming as it will help make the soil more fertile and preserve it as well.

“We are going to move away from the normal fertiliser to lime, lime makes our soil very fertile; we have lime in Ghana and we are going to help our farmers use lime…,” he told the gathering.

Agricultural lime is a soil amendment which is made from crushed limestone that contains natural nutrients promote healthy plant growth. It is also used to condition soil by raising pH levels.

Lime dissolves and releases a base that counteracts or neutralizes soil acidity when it is added to agricultural crops.

The use of lime, fertiliser and heavy farming machinery, he believes has culminated in the success of farmers in countries like Brazil and China, hence the decision to introduce same.

“We are going to help farmers increase their productivity. If you go to Brazil, you can get  ten tons of maize from an acre of land, in China you can get 12 tons but in Ghana we are seeing only 4 tons…,” he said.

A worried Dr Bawumia said this problem is what has prompted him to acquire the technologies farmers in these countries are using in their farming practices to Ghana ‘to increase productivity.’