PNC To Revive Agric Sector - Ayariga

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Created on Saturday, 13 October 2012 00:00

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PNC To Revive Agric Sector - Ayariga

12 October 2012

The Flag bearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Hassan Ayariga, has said a PNC government will make maximum use of the country’s farmlands through the revival of the agriculture sector.

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According to him, past governments had always paid lip service to the sector, and that the PNC would introduce various initiatives to boost the sector and make it more attractive and lucrative.

“The agriculture policy of the PNC is to revive the agriculture sector. In many years we have talked of agriculture without thinking of mechanised agriculture,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview, adding that “the PNC believes in mechanised agriculture”.

Mr Ayariga noted that once the initiative of mechanisation was adopted, there would be all-year-round production of food, unlike the present situation where the country relied on rain fell agriculture.

He said mechanisation would also lead to the production of jobs and food security.

“We would do this by first of all making sure that we make maximum use of our farmlands that have been left to fallow,” he said.

Mr Ayariga said the party would place greater attention on irrigation and the construction of dams as part of the policy to revive and boost the agriculture sector.

“We would make sure we use the 12-month form of agriculture by irrigational system and dams to be able to farm 12-months,” he said, adding that “in doing that we would not depend on rain fell agriculture”.

He said it was so sad that in this day and age, Ghanaian farmers still relied on rain fell agriculture.

On food storage, Mr Ayariga said the PNC government would identify seed crops and the kinds of soil the country had, and after that researchers would be put together to define and identify those soil, seeds and crops.

He said once that was done “we would be able to determine which land or particular zone of this country a particular venture is to be undertaken”.

“When we are able to do that then we would be able to determine which part of the country we would put a storage facility. If we can have maize in the Northern Region then we would put storage facilities of maize in the Northern Region,” he said.

Mr Ayariga said storage facilities to be put up by the PNC would be depended on the crops and soil on which farming was done, adding that huge silos would be put in place to take care of storage.

He said the roads and railway network would be developed and linked to where the storage facilities were to ensure that farm produce did not rot on the farm.

Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana