Rice farmers in the Northern region are racing against time to prevent fire from destroying their farms before harvest.
Although most rice fields are ready for harvest, farmers in the region say, combine harvesters are inadequate as some of them have been waiting for weeks to harvest their farm.
Inadequate machinery especially combine harvesters was among the concerns raised by farmers when a delegation from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and their German partners visited some rice fields at Bontanga and Nasia in the northern and north East regions.
AGRA is implementing a a Public Private Partnership, (PPP) project to boost the production, marketing and consumption of Ghana rice.
The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Special Initiative dubbed:, “One World-No Hunger” and targets over one hundred thousand small holder farmers across the country.
Under the initiative, the capacities of farmers are built to produce quality rice to meet market demands.
At the Botanga Irrigation Dam, hundreds of farmers including Joseph Tan-Kurubil who benefited from the AGRA initiative have increased their acreage, but access to harvesters remains a challenge.
“I have increased the size of my farm from one acre to four acres. I am expecting an increase in yields from 15 bags per acre to 50 bags per acre. I say this because I have observed all the cultural practices expected. Our main challenge now is getting a combine to harvest for us” said Mr. Tan-Kurubil.
On the way to Nasia, the media team met Mba Alhassan and his family, manually harvesting rice with sickles.
He confirmed that, combine harvesters are hard to come by and farmers cannot procure the machine.
“The harmattan winds are here and fire could just come from anywhere to destroy this farm. I requested for a combine a week ago, but it is still working on another farm. I have therefore resorted to manual harvesting, but as you can see, I can’t do much with this method,” said Mba Alhassan.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has supported some of these farmers in the northern region to increase rice production.
The capacities of hundreds of farmers at Botanga and Nasia have been built under the initiative.
The farmers also received certified seeds and agrochemicals to boost yields.
The Interim Country Manager for AGRA disclosed that, the initiative is part of efforts to increase the production and consumption of Ghana rice.
Story filed by Murtala Issah
