Mepom to get new food market
An ultramodern market earmarked to primarily sell farm produce is to be constructed at Mepom in the Upper West Akyem District early next year.
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The market would be the first of its kind in the district, reputed to be a major food crop growing area in the Eastern Region. When it is completed , farmers would have a ready market for their farm and would no longer have to travel to Asamankese, a distance of about 20 kilometers, to transact business.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Mr Derrick Ohene Bekoe, made this known when he addressed farmers at Mepom in observance of the National Farmers’ Day.
19 Farmers
In all, 19 farmers who distinguished themselves in the production of food crops and livestock were honoured. The top prize went to Kwame Avenyenu, 49, from Abamkrom.
Mr Amenyenu has a 16-acre citrus farm and many acres of cocoa, cassava, plantain and yam. He also deals in livestock. For his prize, he took home a refrigerator, a pair of Wellington boots, a radio set, cutlasses and other farm inputs.
Other farmers who excelled received spraying machines, radio sets, cutlasses and weedicides.
According to Mr Ohene Bekoe, the assembly took the decision to construct the market to ease the difficulties farmers faced in transporting their produce to urban centres like Asamankese and Nsawam for sale.
He said the the assembly would support farmers, particularly those who dealt in livestock, as a means of enabling them to generate more income for themselves and their dependants.
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Cocoa
He advised farmers who planted cocoa to take advantage of the recent increase in the producer price of the commodity to expand their farms.
He urged the youth to take up farming instead of migrating to urban centres for non-existent jobs and in the end be left traumatised.
Mr Bekoe said although the district was created just two years ago, many of the communities within it had been provided with the necessary social amenities, including schools. He assured them that every community would have its fair share of the national cake with time.
He took the opportunity to educate the people on sanitation and health issues with regards to the cholera and Ebola diseases.
The Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Joseph Amanquandor, said a number of feeder roads were being constructed in the district to make for easy transportation of foodstuffs that had been locked up .
The Upper West Akyem District Director of Agriculture, Mr Daniel Nartey, urged farmers to consult agriculture extension officers always for guidance on ways of applying scientific methods in their work. He said proper application of new technologies quite often resulted in good yields.