Farmers at Ejura Soboline in the Ejura- Sekyedumase District in the Ashanti Region have appealed to government to provide storage facilities for maize farmers in the area.
They also appealed for the provision of dryers to enable them dry their harvested maize during the raining season.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Ejura Soboline, Mr Adam Mohammed, the maize farmers’ group representative, said due to the lack of the storage facilities, their produce always go bad and this renders them with losses.
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He said with the implementation of the government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, farmers in the area planted large acres of maize and the harvest is good but their major challenge is the lack of ready market for their produce.
Mr Adam said due to lack of storage facilities, middlemen who come and buy their maize offer very low prices and they are forced to sell their produce to them.
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He said it would be a relief to maize farmers if stakeholders could connect them to companies and investors that would buy their products and ensure that the farmers produce to meet international standards.
Mr Adam said the standards of measurement currently being used by the middlemen is also not favourable to them and pleaded with the District Agriculture Department to provide weighing scales at major market centers and help boost the income of farmers.
Source: ghananewsagency.org