Govt to provide farmers with mechanised solar-powered boreholes - Agric Minister tells Parliament
The government is to provide farmers with mechanised solar-powered boreholes to mitigate the impact of climate change under the Feed Industry Programme (FIP), the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has told Parliament.
He also gave an assurance that existing irrigation infrastructure would be rehabilitated to ensure a sustainable and uninterrupted supply of agricultural produce to industries.
Besides, he said the ministry was working in partnership with processors to deploy mini-processing facilities to the production enclaves for primary processing.
“This will serve as a ready market for farmers, thereby minimising produce losses to farmers and guarantee uninterrupted raw material supply to industries,” he said.
Farm Service Centres
Responding to a question on the floor of the House last Tuesday, Mr Opoku said, “In the long-term, we want to significantly improve irrigation infrastructure as a means to mitigate the impact of climate change to keep agro-processors in business throughout the year.
“We will also establish Farm Service Centres as a one-stop shop for farmers to access agriculture mechanisation services, high-quality seeds, fertilisers and extension services and I believe these are some of the surest ways of using agriculture as a vehicle for economic transformation,” he said.
The minister said that when he answered a question by the MP for Atwima Mponua, Seth Osei-Akoto, on the short to long-term “Feed the Industry Programme” the ministry intended to implement for the benefit of farmers.
What’s FIP?
The minister said the FIP was one of the key programmes under the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA).
Under this programme, he said the government would establish a strong relationship between agriculture and industry under which industry would add value to agricultural produce along the value chain to create jobs for the youth.
He said the programme would be focused on production, processing, transportation, distribution and marketing.
“The relationship is going to be symbiotic in nature where industries will serve as huge markets for agricultural produce and agriculture as a market for industrial products in the form of fertilisers, machetes and other agricultural inputs.
In the short term, Mr Opoku said the ministry would provide technical assistance, inputs and other incentives to farmers to boost productivity.
Bepong Warehouse
The minister also answered a question by the MP for Mpraeso, Davis Ansah Opoku, who asked about the status of Bepong Warehouse whose construction has been abandoned after only 50 per cent completion.
In response, Mr Opoku said the 1,000 metric tonnes capacity warehouse was one of the 50 such grains warehouses initiated under the erstwhile Ministry of Special Development Initiatives in 2018, which were later transferred to MoFA in 2022.
He said according to the Consultant’s status report dated February 2025 made available to him on his assumption of duty at the ministry, the completion of works was at 60 per cent and works on site had stalled since March 2022 due to a lack of funds to pay certificates.
He said his ministry had written to the Ministry of Finance to continue the project as soon as funds were made available.
Migratory birds
The minister also answered a question by the MP for Walewale, Dr Abdul Kabiru Tia Mahama, on the intention of the government to address the destruction of rice fields by migratory birds, which had left many farmers helpless in the Walewale Constituency and some areas in the northern part of the country.
Mr Opoku answered that the ministry swiftly commissioned a four-member team made up of seasoned directors to proceed to the north to assess the situation for effective control measures to be deployed.
The reports from the four-member team on the issue, he said, indicated that the birds were no more migratory but rather permanent and would remain in those areas for a long time.
Consequently, the team had been requested to come up with appropriate strategic methods to contain the menace not only in Walewale but also in the Mamprugu-Moagdure enclave.
