HELP FARMERS IN UPPER WEST — NPP (PAGE 13, JULY 12, 2010)

The Upper West Regional Second Vice–chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Hafiz Bin-Salih, has appealed to the government to come to the aid of farmers in the region by providing them with fertilisers.
He said the lack of fertilisers in the region was hampering the efforts of farmers, thereby contributing to their precarious situation.
“Currently farmers have prepared their lands for the season but the shortage of the products is compounding the problem of our people”, he added.
Mr Bin–Salih made the call in an interaction with the Daily Graphic in Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region.
According to him, middlemen had already taken advantage of the situation by selling the fertiliser at exorbitant prices to farmers and, therefore, suggested to government to either revert to the chit system which was introduced by the New Patriotic Party government under ex – President J. A. Kufuor, or introduce a more efficient means of ensuring that fertilisers and other farm inputs go directly to the farmers.
He said in the absence of this, there would be very poor yields which would affect the already impoverished people of the region.
“Government should also make good its promise of ensuring the implementation of the block farming by making tractors available for the use of beneficiaries,” he said.
Mr Bin–Salih called on the government to increase the salaries of workers to enable them to increase productivity and ensure the rapid development of the country.
He was of the view that the inability of the government to solve these problems and others would be an indication that the government was bereft of ideas, adding that “the government had already shown signs of its inability to solve the numerous problems confronting Ghanaians.
He said Ghanaians should ensure that the NPP came back to power to continue the good policies which were introduced by ex –President Kufuor but were being destroyed by the NDC.