Farmers in the Adentan Municipal Assembly, Accra, have complained about losing their livelihoods as estate developers take over their lands.
At the donation of some 1,000 fertilizers to support farmers in the Adentan and Ga East Municipalities, they noted that more than 50 per cent of the State lands they had worked on over three decades had gone to estate developers.
The donation by the Ministry of Food and Africulture (MoFA) on Thursday, under the Government’s Feed Ghana programme, was to help the farmers increase local production of maize, rice, soya beans, sorghum and other staples.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in 2022 alone, Ghana imported goods worth US$13 billion, with key items such as rice (US$1bn), sugar (US$200 million), and tomatoes (US$400m) dominating the list.
“Membership of our Association has reduced from more than 300 to 100 because estate developers have taken over and there is nothing we can do about it. We are pleading with the Government to come to our aid,” said Mr Yidana Silifu Illiasu Awal, the Chairman of the Aviation Farmers Association.
“Our source of livelihood is being taken away… You grow your crops and just when your crops are fruiting, developers come to destroy the farm.” Leaders of other farmer Associations in the Municipal Assembly raised the same land encroachment concern during an engagement with Mr John Kofi Setor Dumelo, the Deputy Minister, MoFA.
“For the tractors, even if we have to rent them at the Municipal Assembly, we will appreciate it,” Mr Awal, who lauded the Government for the fertilisers, said, and called for seedlings and irrigation facilities to augment their production.
Responding to their plights, the Deputy Agric Minister said the Government would swiftly act to reverse encroached state lands to farmers to ensure they produced more, resulting in affordable food items for Ghanaians.
He said the work of Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) Committee had made the government identify some lands that would soon be reclaimed, pledging that those in Adentan would be included.
Mr Bright Demordzi, the Coordinator of the Feed Ghana programme, urged the farmers to reach out to district agric officers when in need, in addition to forming cooperatives to advance their cause.
Source: GNA
