Northern Ghana: Farmers wail over wasting rice, maize
There is intense anxiety amongst rice farmers in the Northern Region as they are plagued by a myriad of problems.
According to the farmers, not only is a government offered price for their last year’s produce inadequate, but the lack of tractors to plough the farms is an even more debilitating headache, placing their business in a rather precarious situation.
The government has been touting its credentials in the area of agriculture and the successes chalked up in increasing food production and job creation.
But the farmers say a dark cloud of uncertainty, anxiety, fear and frustration hang over them this season as they have watched their hope of making sustainable earnings from their sweat dashed.
Speaking in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, some of the rice farmers told journalists that this year’s farming season did not hold good prospects.
Asked why, they said a government programme to buy back their produce posed serious challenges because the amount offered by the government was very low.
Mr Zakaria Abubakari, a farmer said while a bag of paddy rice sold at about GH¢40 this time last year, the government is currently buying the commodity at GH¢30 per bag.
In the open market the price is even lower.
He said while the government’s action was quite commendable, it has to be said that that fell short of the expected revenue of farmers and will not only reduce their quality of life, but also negatively affect the amount of farming he and his colleagues are able to do this season.
“Farmers don’t have money in their possession, it is their goods that they sell to raise money to farm, so if the prices are not good, then it affects them,” he said.
A fortnight ago there was panic in Tamale when the government intervention to purchase rice stocks from the farmers was suspended because, according to the farmers, the government said it had run out of space to keep the rice.
One farmer told Myjoyonline.com that he had 200 bags of rice but could not sell and was afraid that if the government stopped buying the items he would suffer colossal losses.
Violently flinging the corrugated door of his silo open to show his 67 bags of unsold rice, another small holder farmer, Adam Issah, said if farmers are encouraged to farm and the produce is allowed to waste away, there certainly cannot be any incentive for him and his colleagues to continue to labour in the fields.
He said he was getting frustrated because given the amount of money and effort he sunk into the farm last year, he didn’t think it economically prudent to sell his rice at the GH¢30 that the government was offering.
Mr Adam said his frustrations were compounded by the fact that while he couldn’t sell last season’s yield, getting a tractor to plough his field this year was a problem.
Precarious situation
The situation, he lamented, had been exacerbated by the fact that if by a
certain date he had not planted his seeds, it would be too late for him
to do so because the raining season would have reached its peak.
Mr Zakaria and other farmers chorused the unavailability of tractors to plough the fields for planting.
According to Mr Zakaria, information available to the farmers indicate that most of the tractors that were sold at subsidized prices to farmers groups in the region by the government have been moved to neighbouring countries such as Togo and Burkina Faso. He said the amount charged in those countries per acre ploughed was far higher than in Ghana. He noted that in the view of the owners of the tractors, it made better economic sense to rather plough for farmers in those countries than in Ghana.
But that, he said was putting a lot of stress on the farmers and called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to, as a matter of urgency intervene to address the challenges facing the farmers if the government’s objective of boosting food security in the country is not to remain a mirage.
Similarly, tonnes of maize are rotting away in silos in the area as a result of poor market. Silos and shops are filled to the brim and the staple is turning into powder. The farmers say they are frustrated by the poor prices. They say a maxi bag of maize is selling for GH¢32 compared to GH¢55 the same time last year.
According to the farmers, the close to 42 per cent fall in price of maize is the worse in many years.
A maize farmer in Tamale, Alhaji Umar Kpalkori, conducting Myjoyonline.com round his silos full of maize, said the situation was discouraging enough for farmers to enthusiastically plant the crop this year.
He said there was no point tilling the land, enduring the vagaries of farm work only to watch the produce go waste.
Alhaji Kpalkori said given the high cost of farm inputs, it was not economically viable to sell a bag of maize at the current price, explaining that the nagging problem faced by farmers was two-fold; how to raise money and till the soil and where to keep the produce of the next harvest.
He said it was regrettable that despite promises from the government that it will buy farm produce from farmers to motivate them to produce more, tonnes of the maize they worked hard last year to produce were rotting.
He envisaged that many maize farmers may stay home this farming season, putting the government’s objective of creating jobs through agriculture in jeopardy.
Some of the farmers also expressed their bitter disappointment about the fact that rice is seemingly being smuggled into the country on a daily basis without much being done about it, claiming “if the government says it is serious about promoting local production and doing nothing about rice smuggling, then it is surely not the way to do it.”
According to the farmers, not only is a government offered price for their last year’s produce inadequate, but the lack of tractors to plough the farms is an even more debilitating headache, placing their business in a rather precarious situation.
The government has been touting its credentials in the area of agriculture and the successes chalked up in increasing food production and job creation.
But the farmers say a dark cloud of uncertainty, anxiety, fear and frustration hang over them this season as they have watched their hope of making sustainable earnings from their sweat dashed.
Speaking in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, some of the rice farmers told journalists that this year’s farming season did not hold good prospects.
Asked why, they said a government programme to buy back their produce posed serious challenges because the amount offered by the government was very low.
Mr Zakaria Abubakari, a farmer said while a bag of paddy rice sold at about GH¢40 this time last year, the government is currently buying the commodity at GH¢30 per bag.
In the open market the price is even lower.
He said while the government’s action was quite commendable, it has to be said that that fell short of the expected revenue of farmers and will not only reduce their quality of life, but also negatively affect the amount of farming he and his colleagues are able to do this season.
“Farmers don’t have money in their possession, it is their goods that they sell to raise money to farm, so if the prices are not good, then it affects them,” he said.
A fortnight ago there was panic in Tamale when the government intervention to purchase rice stocks from the farmers was suspended because, according to the farmers, the government said it had run out of space to keep the rice.
One farmer told Myjoyonline.com that he had 200 bags of rice but could not sell and was afraid that if the government stopped buying the items he would suffer colossal losses.
Violently flinging the corrugated door of his silo open to show his 67 bags of unsold rice, another small holder farmer, Adam Issah, said if farmers are encouraged to farm and the produce is allowed to waste away, there certainly cannot be any incentive for him and his colleagues to continue to labour in the fields.
He said he was getting frustrated because given the amount of money and effort he sunk into the farm last year, he didn’t think it economically prudent to sell his rice at the GH¢30 that the government was offering.
Mr Adam said his frustrations were compounded by the fact that while he couldn’t sell last season’s yield, getting a tractor to plough his field this year was a problem.
Mr Zakaria and other farmers chorused the unavailability of tractors to plough the fields for planting.
According to Mr Zakaria, information available to the farmers indicate that most of the tractors that were sold at subsidized prices to farmers groups in the region by the government have been moved to neighbouring countries such as Togo and Burkina Faso. He said the amount charged in those countries per acre ploughed was far higher than in Ghana. He noted that in the view of the owners of the tractors, it made better economic sense to rather plough for farmers in those countries than in Ghana.
But that, he said was putting a lot of stress on the farmers and called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to, as a matter of urgency intervene to address the challenges facing the farmers if the government’s objective of boosting food security in the country is not to remain a mirage.
Similarly, tonnes of maize are rotting away in silos in the area as a result of poor market. Silos and shops are filled to the brim and the staple is turning into powder. The farmers say they are frustrated by the poor prices. They say a maxi bag of maize is selling for GH¢32 compared to GH¢55 the same time last year.
According to the farmers, the close to 42 per cent fall in price of maize is the worse in many years.
A maize farmer in Tamale, Alhaji Umar Kpalkori, conducting Myjoyonline.com round his silos full of maize, said the situation was discouraging enough for farmers to enthusiastically plant the crop this year.
He said there was no point tilling the land, enduring the vagaries of farm work only to watch the produce go waste.
Alhaji Kpalkori said given the high cost of farm inputs, it was not economically viable to sell a bag of maize at the current price, explaining that the nagging problem faced by farmers was two-fold; how to raise money and till the soil and where to keep the produce of the next harvest.
He said it was regrettable that despite promises from the government that it will buy farm produce from farmers to motivate them to produce more, tonnes of the maize they worked hard last year to produce were rotting.
He envisaged that many maize farmers may stay home this farming season, putting the government’s objective of creating jobs through agriculture in jeopardy.
Some of the farmers also expressed their bitter disappointment about the fact that rice is seemingly being smuggled into the country on a daily basis without much being done about it, claiming “if the government says it is serious about promoting local production and doing nothing about rice smuggling, then it is surely not the way to do it.”
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