The General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) has stated that the recent \u00a0shortage of cassava in the country could be attributed to the prolonged drought witnessed some few months back.<\/p>\n
The assertion contradicts a statement made by the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan that, the shortage of the tuber is due to transportation and road infrastructural challenges in the hinterlands.<\/p>\n
According to Dr. Alhassan, the challenges have impeded the supply of the produce, leading to an increase in price of cassava to about 7.5 cedis for three to four small tubers.<\/p>\n
But speaking to Citi Business News<\/strong> in an interview, the Deputy General Secretary of GAWU, Mr. Edward Kareweh stated that, the country should have experienced adequate supply of the produce if the weather pattern was favourable.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly if you look at recent development regarding the weather every sub-sector of the agriculture sector will be affected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He explained that there has been a general shortage of rain in the planting season, while the country experienced prolonged harmattan.<\/p>\n Mr. Kareweh pointed out that, the shortage \u00a0of the produce has also fallen outside the normal lean season that sees some drop in supply of cassava for a minimum period of time<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year we have a lean and peak season for agriculture produce, and cassava is one of them. But certainly this is not normal, that is why we are concerned. This shortage is due to the weather,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n He maintained that, the development calls for a general review of how farmers plan their planting season based on the weather since the trend in recent times have been unpredictable.<\/p>\n He added that, even when the rains have been predicted to be favourable it sometimes falls heavily, flooding farmlands and plants.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Lawrence Segbefia\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) has stated that the recent \u00a0shortage of cassava in the country could be attributed to the prolonged drought witnessed some few months back. The assertion contradicts a statement made by the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan that, the shortage of the tuber is due to transportation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":217503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,171],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n