The Member of Parliament for Ayensuano Constituency in the Eastern region Hon. Nana Yaw Teddy has assured to facilitate a meeting with the farmers and the Parliamentary select committee on Agriculture for immediate intervention to address serious challenges threatening food security in the area.
This was after the overall district best farmer in Ayensuano District, Mr Obuobi Samuel on behalf of farmers in the area highlighted that real estate developers with land guards as well as sand winners are unlawfully gobbling farmlands in the area threatening food security.
Meanwhile, due to the urgency of their challenges, Hon Nana Yaw Teddy said “Ayensuano is a farming community serving as a food basket to Accra and some part of Ghana, today they’ve received awards indicating that they are doing well but looking at their challenges I need to act as their member of parliament to help solve their challenges for them, in that regard I have invited them to meet them in parliament next week reward them on my behalf and offer them the opportunity to meet the Chairman of Parliament Agric Committee so that their challenges will be addressed.”
Speaking on the theme “Accelerating Agricultural Development Through Value Addition”, the District Chief Executive for Ayensuano, Hon. Josephine Awuku Ansaa Inkoom revealed that there is a growing interest in individuals leasing their lands to estate developers and for non-farming-related activities in the district than giving their lands to the youth who are willing to go into farming, therefore, discouraging them to look for other livelihood alternatives.
She said, “land issue is one of the challenges why most of the youth are unable to go into farming even though some of them are willing to farm but are not able to get land and if it happens that way how would they be able to farm, so going forward as a country we need to draft a law which will mandate the state to own a vast land so that any youth who will show interest in farming is giving a parcel of land to do their farming, the land issue is not about Ayensuano District only, it should be of national interest and even be discussed in parliament so that they pass a law to allow the state to at least lease lands for individuals who want to farm”.
“The Executive arm of government and the Parliamentarians should deliberate on this issue if only they want to encourage the teaming youth to go into farming so that there will abundance of foods which are very affordable and to also help reduce youth unemployment in the country so that the situation where farmlands are taking away from the farmers for estate developing will be a thing of the past” Hon. Josephine Awuku Ansaa Inkoom said in an interview.
The overall best farmer in the district, Mr Obuobi Samuel a father of three children owes a maize farm of 35 acres, 20 acres of palm oil farm, 10 acres of a coconut farm, 20 acres of cassava farm, 1 acre of plantain farm, 4 fish ponds, 15 pigs, 120 local fowls, 18 cattle etc.
Mr Obuobi Samuel having been crowned as the overall Ayensuano District best farmer, was presented with a tricycle, Knapsack spraying machines, cutlasses, fertilizers, farm protective equipment, television and other farm inputs.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
