I’ll prioritise mechanised large-scale commercial farming — Bawumia
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has promised to focus on mechanised commercial agriculture and the application of technology to increase food production in the country.
Advertisement
He said Ghana needed to move into large-scale commercial farming with the appropriate technology to help farmers to cultivate enough farm produce that would result in lower prices of food items.
“Although we have vast arable lands together with the required water resources, we lack the application of the needed technology to bolster the growth and development of the agricultural sector,” he stressed.
For instance, he said, along the White Volta, especially in northern Ghana, there was the availability of vast land that could be used for large-scale farming to shore up the nation’s food basket.
Courtesy call
Dr Bawumia said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs in Bolgatanga last Friday, as part of a day’s tour of the region.
Earlier, he had interacted with the clergy, Imams and Zango chiefs.
He also held a community durbar with small-scale miners in Gbane, a mining community in Talensi, before rounding up with a youth connect with students and youth groups at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall in Bolgatanga.
Pwalugu dam
Touching on the Pwalugu multi-purpose dam project, he stated that the project he championed which was expected to bring relief to residents of both the Upper East and North-East regions had still not been done.
“I am of a firm belief that we are going to execute the project as it would put about 28,000 hectares of land under irrigation, generate electricity and end perennial flooding as a result of the opening of the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso,” he said.
Other Trending Stories
Small-scale mining
The Vice-President, who is also the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party for this year’s general election, pledged to formalise small-scale mining by ensuring the issuance of licences to small-scale miners to enable them to undertake their activity in an environmentally safe and responsible manner.
He added that through the setting up of the Mineral Development Bank, small-scale miners would be assisted to purchase the requisite mining equipment to make them productive, thereby ending the illegal mining menace.
Link road
The President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III, commended Dr Bawumia for his decision to give priority to the agricultural sector in a bid to resuscitate the economy.
He appealed for the reconstruction of the main road linking the region to the Upper West Region as it was currently in a deplorable state, posing a danger to motorists and other road users.
“The road is currently in a deplorable state and needs urgent attention. It is an important road that links the two regions and it must be prioritised to facilitate easy movement of people and also make it safe for people to commute and go about their businesses.”
Writer’s email; gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh.