Mr Daniel Noble Awume, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has revealed that Jospong Group of Companies was collaborating with farmers in the Municipality to develop rice valleys for commercial and sustainable production.
He said under the programme, one of the companies of the group would sign an agreement with landowners and farmers regarding the project, adding that inputs would be provided to farmers as well as irrigation systems and available market for their produce.
Mr Awume, was delivering his sessional address to the General Assembly during the First Ordinary Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Hohoe Municipal Assembly on the theme: “Partnership for Enhanced Local Governance” said, the company would mainstream the processes through the facilitation of the Department of Agriculture.
He said he personally believed the project was a game changer in the agricultural industry and appealed to the landowners and farmers to embrace the idea for a brighter future.
Mr Awume said the Department of Agriculture in the year under review carried out a number of activities to ensure that it achieved its mandate of promoting growth in food and livestock production.
They included training of Municipal Agricultural Officers and Agriculture Extension Assistants on extension re-orientation and new trends, organised technical review meeting for Agriculture Extension Assistants and Municipal Agriculture Officers and also embarked on home and farm visits by technical staffs.
Mr Awume said the socio-economic development of the Municipality was heavily dependent on agricultural activities and that was the reason why the Assembly considered agriculture as its topmost priority.
“As an Assembly, we would continue to support and collaborate with the Department of Agriculture to roll out initiatives and programs that would promote agricultural activities in the Municipality. We should aim and work towards being food sufficient.”
He called on the citizens, especially the youth, not to shy away from farming since agriculture had the potential to improve their lives as individuals and to better the lot of the Municipality.
“Under the government’s Planting for Food and Job programme, 500 bags of compost fertilizers, 6000 litres of liquid fertilizers, 28,800kg of OPV Maize seeds, 25,875kg of Local Hybrid Maize seeds and 30,000kg of rice seeds were made available to farmers in our Municipality.”
Mr Awume said out of the total number of 3,133 farmers who benefited from this initiative, 2,044 were males and 1,089 were females, adding that the Assembly was also in the process of procuring 2,000 coconut and 5000 oil palm seedlings for distribution to interested farmers throughout the Municipality.