Ejura (Ash), Feb. 27, GNA - The Ejura-Sekyedumase District Assembly has purchased 10 tractors at the cost of 1.6 billion cedis to boost agriculture production in the district.

The tractors are to be sold to individual farmers on high purchase but they will make a down payment of 80 million cedis and the remaining 80 million cedis spread over a three-year period. The sale of the tractors to individual farmers is to ensure their proper maintenance but will be put at the disposal of the various farming groups which have all come under the Anokro Farming Association. This condition has been embodied in the purchase agreement between the assembly and the farmers to ensure compliance.

Inaugurating the tractors at Ejura, Dr. Joshua Ayarkwa, the District Chief Executive, said it was in fulfillment of a promise he made to farmers at the 21st National Farmers Day celebration last year to establish a mechanization service centre for farmers.

He said under the scheme therefore, all splinter farmers groups have come under the umbrella of the Anokro Farmers Association to go into the production of cereals and legumes for processing and export. Dr. Ayarkwa said service charges for ploughing would therefore, be collectively determined so that the farmers in possession of the tractors do not arbitrarily fix their charges.

He mentioned credit facilities to be enjoyed by the farmers as ploughing services, improved seed supply, fertilizers and agro-chemical supply and sufficient credit for farm maintenance.

The DCE said the scheme would ensure that all inputs including financial assistance got to farmers before the start of every farming season pointing out that the failure of many such farmers schemes in the past failed because of the late supply of inputs and financial assistance which came usually towards the end of the season. This situation, he said, would as much as possible be avoided to ensure the success of the scheme and that credit delivery would be recovered when farmers harvested their produce and that a comprehensive list of all the farmers was being compiled for easy identification and monitoring.

He announced some agricultural projects for which the district had been selected for participation and mentioned the maize programme involving 1,500 farmers, the agricultural transformation in the Afram Plains Basin of the Millennium Challenge Account for poverty reduction and the Nerica Rice Project.