The Acting District Director of Agriculture in the Pujehun district Isa Jonathan Ganga has intimated Awoko press that the district has over 20,000 hectares of fertile swamp land at Gbo Ndapi waiting to be utilized.
During an investigative research on the production of rice in the district Awoko caught up with the Acting District Director at his office in the Ministry of Agriculture, Pujehun where he explained the current situation of rice production in the district.
Isa Jonathan Ganga told Awoko that Gbo Ndapi which is in the Pujehun district can feed the entire southern province if only attention is given to rice production in that part of the country.
He disclosed that most farmers in Pujehun district are now concentrating on swamp farming instead of upland farming. This is the case because there is a vast proportion of swamp land available in the district. In addition to that the climatic condition this year did not favour upland farmers because of the late arrival of rains.
The district director expressed his frustration over the little attention government is giving to Pujehun district in terms of making tractors available to them to enable farmers embark on large scale agriculture. Mr. Ganga went further to disclose that the district had 7 old tractors but 2 of those tractors were grounded due to mechanical problem and they were only left with 5 tractors to cover the entire Pujehun district. Among those five tractors only two are used in the fertile Gbo Ndapi which has the largest rice farm in Pujehun district.
He called on government to increase the number of tractors so as to complement the efforts of farmers in the district.
“We need 50 tractors to embark on massive food production so that we can achieve food security” The director stated.
Giving statistics of seed rice supplied to the district in the last two years the district director divulged to Awoko that the district received 4,000 bushels of seed rice from government in 2008 and 1,300 bushels in 2009. For this planting season they also received 484 bushels from ASREP which is an NGO supporting farming activities in the district.
Explaining the mechanism used to distribute the seed rice to farmer, Mr. Ganga told Awoko that 20 bushels of seed rice is given to Farmer Based Organizations under the supervision of their councilors.
Mr. Ganga said they are encouraging farmers in the district to capitalize on swamp farming to allow second cropping in the year. “With farmers producing rice twice a year they will learn to be self reliant by creating their own seed banks so that they would not be dependent on government supply” the director explained.
Speaking about strides made by his district towards achieving food security, the Acting Director revealed that Pujehun district has been rated No. 1 in the country in terms of swamp rehabilitation and development. The district has also been rated 5th in the country for improvement in agriculture.
He attributed the success of the district to the unwavering cooperation and dedication of farmers in ensuring food sufficiency in the district.
By William Freeman and Easmon Moigua