Kranka (B/A), May 31, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Projects, Ghana, has organised a forum for about 40 farmers and beneficiaries of the Habitat Housing Projects at Kranka, a farming community in the Nkoranza District of Brong Ahafo Region to educate them on agricultural business. Dr Kofi Afakye, District Director of Agricultural Services, who addressed the farmers urged them to ensure that agriculture and for that matter, farming is a business venture and not a hobby and that in all their farming activities, they should aim at making a profit that would make them move forward in life.

Dr Afakye expressed concerns about how a number of farmers refused to plan before entering into any agricultural activity and as a result, often they do not achieve anything better after their farming season and thereby regarding farming as just a small way of life.

The Agricultural Director therefore, stressed the need for farmers to plan before entering into any farming activity and that they should also manage all stages of their activities effectively that is, from production through consumption as such good practices would enable them make profit out of their work.

Dr Afakye advised farmers to be very consistent with their farming activities and never chase crops that achieve high market prices at specific seasons and therefore rush to grow such crops, as they easily flooded the markets and later turn to receive no or low market prices. He urged farmers to farm within their competence and manage their farms properly, while also taking and adhering to technical advice from agricultural extension officers, by these and they would get better yields of the produce they grow and their crops would also be quality and to meet better market price.

Farmers should do well to diversify their farming activities by undertaking other ventures such as livestock keeping, poultry farming, snail/mushroom farming as well as bee-keeping and they would catch good market, earn profit and improve upon their living standards. Dr Afakye expressed regret about how farmers were lacking financial support for their activities and therefore pleaded with the banking institutions and non-governmental organisations to consider the plight of farmers and offer them some credit facilities to enhance their activities; adding that, farmers feed the months of the state. He commended Miss Afia Brey Frei, an American Peace Corps Volunteer and Supervisor of the Habitat for Humanity Projects at Kranka for organising the farmers to understand and lean more about agricultural business in order that they would improve upon their activities. Miss Brey Frei, who is proud of the Ghanaian name 'Afia' is organising the farmers at Kranka to go into livestock production as another agricultural business in addition to their crops farming, so they would not be encountering financial hardships.