President John Mahama has promised to set up a new Cashew Board for Ghana to be headquartered in the Brong Ahafo Region should he win the December 7 polls for a second term.
Presenting highlights of the governing National Democratic Congress’ 2016 manifesto in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Mahama said the planned establishment of a Cashew Board is part of efforts by his government to revamp the agricultural sector.
Apart from cashew, Mr Mahama said a new cocoa plantation scheme shall be established by Cocobod to attract youth sharecroppers.
Also, two more shea butter factories will be set up in the northern part of Ghana while cotton production will be taken to 100,000 metric tons a year based on input subsidies.
He said free coffee seedlings will be provided to all interested farmers, adding that four million of them are already being nursed. This is meant to boost coffee production from the current 6,000 metric tons to 100,000 metric tons.
Still with agriculture, Mr Mahama said the Youth in Agric programme will be aggressively boosted.
He also said storage facilities will be constructed across districts to minimise post-harvest losses while Farmer Service Centres will be established within the reach of the five million or so farmers. He said the first 50 of these are already under development in collaboration with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).
Furthermore, Mr Mahama said every district will be hosting a farming mechanisation centre with a minimum of 10 tractors, all equipped with the full complement of implements such as harvesters.
All farmers, Mr Mahama added will receive inputs on a credit basis and repayments shall be processed post-harvest through produce purchasing boards in the districts.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
