The Bono East Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mrs Cecilia Kegya –Agyemang, has asked stakeholders in the private sector to partner the government to find innovative ways of preventing perennial glut of yam.
She explained that government alone could not prevent yam glut and said that industrialization was the best way to address the issue in the country.
Ms Kegya –Agyemang made the call in a telephone interview with the Ghanaian Times, yesterday, in Sunyani, in respect of the glut being experienced by yam farmers at Atebubu, Offuman, Techiman and other communities in the Bono East Region.
Yam farmers in the communities are said to have recorded bumper harvest, but low patronage was resulting in glut.
Mrs Kegya- Agyemang announced that MoFA was currently implementing a business partnership policy where stakeholders in the value chain meet to discuss ways to link producers to market centres with mopping up supply.
She mentioned cost of transportation and proximity which affect the price of yam as some of the reasons why farmers were not getting patronage from buyers.
“Most traders consider proximity and transportation before deciding where to go for their supply .Now, because of Eastern corridor road transporting yam to the Southern sector is faster and it has become a disincentive for traders to come down here to buy. We need to do something to stablise the prices,” she explained.
Mr Collins Korang, a yam farmer at Offuman, speaking to the Ghanaian Times, suggested that government should help farmers export the produce to other neighbouring countries, in order to address the yearly low patronage phenomenon farmers and traders in the area go through.
He said it was discouraging to produce yam in large quantities without buyers, saying the situation was affecting farmers greatly.
Mrs Korang stressed the need for the road networks in the Offuman enclave to be upgraded, to enable farmers transport the commodities to marketing centres.
Nana Safoaa, Offuman market queen mother, called for the expansion of the Offuman market to enhance trading activities.
She said the road linking Offuman to Techiman is in bad state, which is affecting economic activities.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH TECHIMAN
