Reports say that Ghana is currently hosting nearly 50,000 refugees.

More than 41,000 of them, mainly from Liberia, reside at the Buduburam Refugee Settlement in the Central Region, while the rest are at the Krisan Settlement and the Essipong Reception Centre both in the Western Region.

The Bole Reception Centre in the Northern Region also hosts more than 49,000 refugees.

Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr. Thomas Broni, who gave these figures yesterday, said that “the massive influx of refugees places a huge burden on the nation’s economy and it also has security implications.”

He said, however, that despite the number, the government had been able to fulfil all its obligations to the refugees in terms of protection, care and control with the support of other partners.

Mr. Broni was speaking at an African Regional Workshop in Accra, jointly organized by United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP).

The workshop aims at strengthening partnership among the institutions towards enhanced food management and the provision of amenities for refugees and deprived people.

4. COTTON TOO NEEDS PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE – LIMANN – PG. 3

The paper reports that, Kuoro Buklia Limann, President of the Cotton Farmers Association, has said that a Presidential Initiative on cotton could help reduce poverty in the North.

Kuoro Limann, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Gwollu Traditional Area in the Sissala District of the Upper West Region, made the call at the People’s Assembly in Upper West.

He said a Presidential Initiative on cotton, which is grown in the three regions would not only give a boost to the farmers and the garment industry but also put money in the pockets of the people, the majority of whom are farmers.

“Due to the lack of attention to cotton, a major cash crop in northern Ghana, its production was dwindling,” he said.

Kuoro Limann also said the high cost of inputs was also hampering higher productivity in the industry, explaining that it cost about ?1 million to spray an acre of cotton, not to mention ploughing and the application of fertilizer.

He, therefore, urged government to consider subsidizing agricultural inputs to make them affordable to peasant farmers and increase agricultural production.