Reduce taxes on agro inputs - Former MP appeals to government
A former Member of Parliament for Ejura-Sekyedumase in the Ashanti Region, Issifu Mohammed Pangabu, has appealed to the government to support farmers in the country by reducing the taxes on agro inputs.
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He said farming was becoming very expensive in the country and warned that if care was not taken, those already in the sector would stop farming.
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Mr Pangabu, who is the Managing Director of Pee Farms Ltd located in Ejura, said this in an interview with the media at the launch of the YaraVita Croplift Bio fertiliser in Ejura.
He said there was the need for the government to take a second look at the tax elements on most of the imported agro inputs and to reduce it to make farming attractive to the youth.
He explained that the high cost involved in farming was scaring away the youth from engaging in farming activities. Mr Pangabu said the government might not be able to help farmers with credit facilities but believed that if farm inputs were cheaper, it would go a long way to assist farmers in their endeavours.
He said gone were the days when more people were interested in going into farming, “but now, because of the cost involved, it has become more difficult for people to go into farming, particularly the youth.”
“In the past, there were not many taxes on farming activities but now everything is being taxed and making things difficult for us,” he further stated.
Machinery
Some of the machinery needed for commercial farming, he said, were not available in Ghana, and cited the example of planters that had to be imported. He said if the government could import combined harvesters and planters and supply them to farmers at subsidised cost, it would go a long way to support the farmers.
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He said farming had a lot of prospects and could be the game changer if people approached it with the right mentality.
PFJ2
On the Phase II of the Planting for Food and Jobs, Mr Pangabu, who was an out grower in the Phase One, called on the government to step up the awareness creation as a lot of people were not aware of it.
“Even myself if you ask me, I will tell you that I don’t know anything about it and we don’t seem to know what is going on,” he said. He said the Phase One was quite good and helped a lot of farmers including himself but said the same could not be said about the Phase II.
Launch
Launching the new product, the Commercial Manager for Yara Ghana Ltd, Theophilus Djobuah, said the new product would help farmers to improve on their productivity and profitability through sustainable farming.
He said the new fertiliser which contained essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), and elements such as zinc, boron and magnesium that improved fruit quality and enhanced crop yield, could be mixed with any agrochemicals with the exception of herbicides and weedicides.
“It is a crop booster and supplement, ideal for all cereals such as maize, rice, sorghum, millet, fruits and vegetables as well as tree crops such as cocoa. With this foliar fertiliser, Yara continues to provide all our farmers with solutions to improve the efficiency of their application methods as well as enhancing production of essential crops to ensure food security,” he said.
Mr Djobuah encouraged the farmers to patronise the fertiliser to improve on their income and yield as well. The launch was attended by farmers from Ejura and its surrounding communities who were introduced to the new product. The farmers included subsistence and commercial farmers.