Correspondence from Upper East Region

The Chairman of the Bolgatanga Municipal Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Reverend John Akaribo, has called on farmers in the region to revert to the old system of farming, using manure.

He believes that by this, the lands in the region would regain their fertility, which will consequently produce better yields.

The Chairman spoke to GhanaWeb's, Sarah Dubure, in an exclusive interview.

He recalled that in the past, the lands in the region were fertile and produced very good yields, until the introduction of chemical fertilizers.

He explained that when fertilizers were initially introduced, one needed just a little of it, and it produced good yields.

"When fertilizer was first introduced in the early 70s, one needed only two bags of Nitrogen Potassium (NPK) and a bag of sulfate to apply on an acre of land". he said.

He however added that the situation had changed, as one now needed 7 bags of fertilizer to be able to produce a desirable yield.

"But today, if you don't get up to 7 bags of fertilizer, to an acre, you might not get any yields", he clarified.

He added that the result of it was the lands now becoming degraded, making farming an expensive venture.

The chairman noted that this had made farming very difficult and frustrating for most of the farmers, as they didn't have the income to meet the demand.

"The soil has become so acidic that if you don't apply more fertilizer, you can't get anything and it is worsening our plight", he complained.

"The cost of these imputes are now very high and it is not easy for a poor farmer to be able to get three or four bags to apply on an acre", he added.

The retired farmer also noted that the old system of using organic manure and producing organic foods produced healthier yields.

He emphasized that reverting to that era would eliminate conditions like anaemia, and promote healthy growth among children.

He stated that it was an open secret that the EU market only accepted organic food produce on their market, as it was the best.

"Those who are making exports we are told in the EU markets, you can't enter there with produce that has come with chemical fertilizer. They need organic and they produce organic", he said.

He opined that the chemical fertilizers had caused a lot of harm, and therefore called for the needful to be done.

"And organic foods in the western countries are very expensive, but they push these chemical fertilizer products to we the Africans and we are the tale end of consumption", he added.

The Reverend minister assured that if farmers gave the traditional method of farming a try for just three months, they would enjoy the benefits for five months.

He stressed the need for researchers, policymakers, those in academia, and farmers, to see how best they can fix the damage.

"So l think there is the need for need for the researchers, the academia, the farmers' policymakers, to see how best we can be able to avert this thing", he concluded.

Reverend John Akatibo had been a farmer, in the Upper East Region for the past three decades.

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