General News of Monday, 31 December 2018
Source: 3news.com
2018-12-31
Affected farmers were angry got to know their investments had been ruined
Some farmers at Kobeda in the Ashanti region have lost their farmlands which served as their source of livelihood for decades.
The farmers claimed an unknown private developer cleared their 40-acre farmland which had farm yields, without any notification.
Affected farmers only got to know their investments had been ruined when they went to work on the farms.
Farm produce including cocoa, pawpaw, orange, plantain, cassava and cocoyam were destroyed on the 40-acre land, last week Wednesday.
Despite farming on the land for over thirty years, they were neither notified nor compensated before the farmland was cleared.
“I came to my farm to work when I saw some young men using a bulldozer to clear the entire farm. I confronted them but they ignored me and continued with the destruction. All my investment on my 15-acre cocoa farm is gone now” an affected farmer, Thomas Kwadwo Fosu, told 3news.
“No one informed us about an intended clearing of our farmland for any project. We have been farming on this land for decades, but someone has managed to destroy our livelihood in just a week,” another affected farmer, Yaa Agyeiwaa, lamented.
Caretaker of the Kobeda Stool Lands, Nana Kwaku Nsiah, said the land has not been given out to any private developer.
He accused the Apagyahene, Nana Owusu Afriyie IV, of being behind the sale of the farmland.
“I have not given out the land to any developer nor have I been consulted by anyone to sell the land to any individual or institution.”
When contacted, the Apagyahene admitted ordering the clearing but said the affected farmers have duly been compensated.
Some of the farmers are yet to receive their compensation, he said but assured that they will get their due by next week.
Nana Owusu Afriyie said the land has been released to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for the establishment of an eye and throat training centre.