Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Francis Ennor, says the region needs 20 combine harvesters to boost services to rice farmers, who annually lose their harvest for lack of the machines.
He said the Agric Directorate had no combine harvester and farmers depended on scarce services of private entrepreneurs.
He said the combine harvesters were primarily meant to support rice farmers in the Upper East Region (UER) and that due to the UER’s closeness to the North East and Savannah regions, known for rice cultivation, farmers in the two regions could also hire the services of the harvesters, which will be an added advantage.
Mr Ennor said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga in response to the annual challenges of rice farmers and the absence of some mechanisation services during the farming season.
The Regional Director said the government acknowledged the challenges and called on private entrepreneurs to increase the number of tractors and combine harvesters in the region to provide the services.
He said the directorate of crop services had procured reapers out of which 15 would be allocated to the UER for demonstration purposes.
“The reaper is a simple and easy-to-handle machine used for harvesting rice and works well in water-logged areas,” he said.
He said the reapers were procured and promoted by the government to support farmers to buy and pay in instalments, adding that “Three will be allocated to the Builsa South District, two to the Garu District and eight to other districts.”
He said vibrant groups and associations, particularly women, youth and men with collective voice and good financial records would be assisted to acquire such equipment for farming activities, especially harvesting of rice.
“We are encouraging private investors to buy such machines to run as business to support farmers; no one in such a business will run at a loss,” the director said.
He said good land preparation was necessary for combine harvesters to work effectively, since such machines needed careful management.
“For land preparation, if you are able to plough your land well, harrow it and do the levelling well, it becomes easier for a combine harvester to work,” he said.
To this end, Mr Ennor said the Savannah Zone agricultural productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) under MoFA had this year started the development of more arable land for cultivation.
He said 1,300 hectares of land was prepared last year and was already in use for commercial rice, maize and vegetable cultivation.
GNA
