Farmers in the Sefwi-Akontombra district of the Western Region have revealed that a large stretch of their cocoa farming land is increasingly showing signs of soil infertility, which has compounded unfriendly factors leading to low productivity in recent years.
The farmers say they have been recording low yields at most of their farm areas, largely because of “growing soil infertility†and over-aged cocoa trees in the district. They have hinted of a drastic decline of cocoa production in the years ahead if pragmatic measures are not adopted to address the concern.
In an interview with B&FT, Seth Addae, spokesperson of the farmers said the immediate best solution is to continuously feed their farms with a substantial quantity of fertiliser. This, he said, is totally above the farmers’ capacity per the skyrocketing cost of fertiliser in the country.
“Though the government has been releasing subsidised fertiliser, it is woefully inadequate and also accessible to very few farmers. We are unable to purchase the needed fertiliser and other inputs such as pesticides to enrich our farms. Government must intervene to sustain cocoa productivity,†he said.
He also mentioned poor road networks in the Sefwi-Akontombra District as a disturbing problem, taking a huge toll on the farmers’ standard of living of the. None of the roads in the district -- a major cocoa growing area in the country -- are tarred. Most of the roads leading to the farming communities are hunters’ paths and unmotorable, especially when the rain sets in.
Mr. Addae explained that “irrespective of the quantity we harvest, farmers have to carry cocoa beans by head to vantage points to access the services of purchasing clerks due the poor nature of the roadsâ€Â. He appealed for government’s attention to help address the plight of Sefwi-Akontombra residents.
By Edward Adjei Frimpong | B&FT Online | Ghana
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