Charcoal business killing yam cultivation in Afram Plains
Yam farmers in the Afram Plains in the Eastern Region have threatened to abandon farming and go into charcoal burning to enable them to earn a living.
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They said it was important that the government supported yam farmers in the area to market their products instead of the current situation where they were left to their fate.
Speaking at different locations at the Maame Krobo Market in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District, the farmers said the current situation of yam farmers did not motivate anyone to go into farming.
Prices of yam
Currently, a heap of 110 tubers of yam is sold at the Maame Krobo Yam Market between GH¢200 and GH¢500 depending on the sizes of the tubers.
That, the farmers felt, was not competitive enough and served as a disincentive for increased productivity.
They said unlike farming, charcoal burning took less than two weeks for the charcoal to be ready with minimal investment.
Farming & charcoal
“The same cannot be said about farming. First you have to hire labourers to clear and prepare the land, followed by the planting, then weeding, sometimes spraying and then harvesting.
“At every stage, we have to engage labourers,” Karim Mohammed, a farmer explained, and wondered how a yam farmer could break even with such an investment.
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A visibly frustrated Mohammed questioned why the government could not help yam farmers and looked on for the middle market men and women to exploit them.
Proposal
He proposed to the government to develop silos to absorb all farm products and pay farmers a standard price so that they could resell these products to the middlemen who buy food items in large quantities to the big cities who would then sell them “at cut-throat” prices.
Farming season
“Farmers, especially yam farmers are virtually subsistent farmers, whose earnings from their vocation can provide income from hand-to-mouth with nothing to show for all the toils and expenses we incur.
“Sometimes, by the time we finish harvesting, they become even poorer than before. Everybody expects that as we harvest, we should have money, but look, 110 tubers of yam are sold for just GH¢250. How can we break even?” Raphael Kofi, a yam farmer queried.
He said during the first quarter of the year, yam farmers had no choice but to sell because, “we have to engage labourers to clear the lands in preparation for the next farming season.”
Mr Kofi said because of that even if the market was not good, they had no choice because they had to pay for the work done.
“So you see, the market women take advantage of our predicament to buy at low prices because they know that at this time we are desperate for money,” he explained.