Agri Local

1D1RAF: “Farmer, Machinery Ratio Unimpressive” – Mr. Somoah

Farmers must come together to form farmer groups to support their quest to access farm machinery. The formation of such groups could assist the farmers to acquire farm machinery which remains an integral part of modern farming.

These remarks were made by Mr. Samuel Adu Somoah during Rite FM’s flagship program, the 1 District, 1 Rite FM Aric Forum (RAF) on Friday which came off in Asutsuare.

Mr. Somoah, Officer-in-Charge of Adaptive Trust Station of the Agricultural Engineering Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture who regretted the poor farmer to machinery ratio in the country, tasked farmers to resort to the formation of various Farmer-Based Organizations and groups to enable them come together to purchase farm machinery for their farming activities.

A cross-section of participants at the event

“The current farmer to machinery ratio amongst Ghanaian farmers is unimpressive,” Mr. Somoah said. “Farmers must therefore come together to form farmer groups to support their pursuit of farm machinery.”

Agricultural experts have consistently pushed for the use of machinery which they add would make it possible for smallholder farmers to achieve timely field cultivation, high level of field bed preparation, planting, harvesting which are important in production in order to achieve high yields.

Ghana’s agricultural mechanization strategy is to make available appropriate sizes and capacities of farm-power, machinery and equipment to all categories of producers for their operations.

The MOFA officer in identifying manual harvesting by farmers as one of the biggest problems of practicing obsolete farming activities noted what he said are several advantages of employing the use of machinery in farming.

While identifying the numerous challenges in farming without the required farm machinery, Mr. Somuah asked farmers to avoid such difficulties by adopting farm equipment in the discharge of their activities.

machinery agencies and local agents for the tractors and their overseas manufacturers have been consistently urged to actively collaborate with the Agricultural Engineering Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in providing the relevant after sales service and training for the tractors and its operators to ensure improved performance in output, whilst conserving soil and moisture at the same time.

Rite FM’s Agric Forum is aimed at creating a conducive platform for providing the grounds for relevant inputs for the development of agriculture in the municipality.

The event which drew tens of participants from across the agriculture value chain in the Shai Osu District saw impressive presentations in the areas of records keeping, district agric policies and flash talks on agric mechanization.

Source: ritefmonline.org

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