Reports indicate that rural agriculture is gradually collapsing in the Northern Region.<\/p>\n
This is attributed to government\u2019s removal of subsidy on fertilizer and other farm inputs.<\/p>\n
It is against this backdrop, Tamale based retired agric extension Officer, Madam Rabi Adam is calling on government to support smallholder farmers in the Northern Region with microcredit.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”hiYHY0VQcCVppoSAdW6e5PLaSOnKPOCz”]She observed that rural agriculture was virtually collapsed in the region due to government\u2019s withdrawal of fertilizer subsidy.<\/p>\n
She maintained that government must reintroduce the fertilizer subsidy to resuscitate rural agriculture.<\/p>\n
Madam Rabi Adam told Citi News that poverty associated with peasant women farmers had deepened in rural communities as a result of the dwindled nature of rural agriculture.<\/p>\n
She said the mass exodus of youth from rural communities in the Northern Region to the south in search of menial jobs will continue unabated if government failed to revive rural agriculture which is their economic mainstay.<\/p>\n
She anticipated that women farmers could have increased their farm yields by 20 to 30 percent if they had the same access to productive resources as their male counterparts.<\/p>\n
This she noted could have raised total agricultural output in especially the Northern Region by 2.5 to four percent.<\/p>\n
Madam Rabi Adam said it could have reduced malnutrition and promoted food security in the Northern Region.<\/p>\n
A former Northern Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Sylvester Adongo subscribed to calls for immediate restoration of subsidy on farm inputs with emphasis on fertilizer.<\/p>\n
He explained, \u201cSubsidies are very necessary in our situation because if you don\u2019t subsidize and farmers are not able to produce at the end of the day we will all go hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you put your stomach in the hands of somebody outside this country you are doomed and so whatever we can do to get our farmers to produce I think we should do it for them because that is our means of livelihood: wherever we can find the money let\u2019s find it and provide subsidized inputs for our farmers,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reports indicate that rural agriculture is gradually collapsing in the Northern Region. This is attributed to government\u2019s removal of subsidy on fertilizer and other farm inputs. It is against this backdrop, Tamale based retired agric extension Officer, Madam Rabi Adam is calling on government to support smallholder farmers in the Northern Region with microcredit. [contextly_sidebar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[54,9,38,17],"yoast_head":"\n