By
Philip Tengzu, GNA
Nandom, (UWR), Jan
16, GNA – Professor Juventus Benogle Ziem, a Microbiology Professor at the
School of Medical Health, University for Development Studies (UDS), has stated
that farming is not the preserve of the uneducated and poor people in society.
He said it should be
seen as the way to go if the country was to develop and meet the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Prof. Ziem, who was
also a commercial farmer, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency
in Nandom on Thursday.
He therefore advised
the youth to see agriculture as a business and source of employment to improve
their living conditions.
Prof Ziem said
increased agricultural production was key to national development and urged the
government to put in the necessary measures to encourage the youth to venture
into the sector.
He explained that
farming, if practised appropriately, required minimal capital investment as
compared to other forms of businesses, hence the need for the government to
invest resources into the sector.
The Microbiology
Professor also advocated the conservation of agriculture as a measure to reduce
the excessive use of fertilizer, which brought additional cost to the farmer
and affected the famers’ economic gains.
Madam Valaria Dery,
a farmer in Nandom told the GNA that access to tractor services was a major
challenge to her in her farming activities.
“How to get a
tractor to plough my farm is always a problem and sometimes the time I will get
the tractor time had already gone, so I will farm but will not get anything”,
she said.
Madam Dery also
noted that much of the farm produce was lost when transporting them from the
farms to the storage and market centres due to the lack of good roads.
She appealed to the
government to consider the plight of farmers and work hard to improve the road
network in the area to reduce Post Harvest Loses.
GNA