The Chairman of Amoma Cashew and Mango Farmers Association, Mr. Agyeman Kodom, has appealed to the government to devote more resources to promoting agriculture in the country.
He added that the government’s effort in supporting the sector can’t be underestimated because it has been the key driving force underlying contributions farmers made for national economic growth.
But more could be done for the farming industry to thrive better and be more attractive to the government through abundant and affordable availability of fertilizers and other farming inputs in the market, the Chairman said.
In an interview with Ghana News Agency at Amoma, a farming community in the Kintampo South District of the Bono East Region, Mr. Kodom revealed that cashew and mango production are key areas for investment due to their local and international high demand.
He commended the government for initiating a GHC5.00 price per kilogram of cashew last year, saying ‘it helped us a lot and if that initiative is applied to other crops, it will greatly reduce our cost of production to guarantee us reasonable profits’.
”Hitherto there was nothing like that, so during the rainy season, the price dropped to as low as GHC1.00 or GHC2.00 per kilogram, and in that case, we are not able to go to the farms with our laborers because we can’t afford the labor cost and therefore run at a loss because the cashew fruits rot and germinate again”, Mr. Kodom lamented.