Flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said his government will establish research fund to support herbal medicine practice in the country.

He said if elected to office, one of his major priorities would be the establishment of research and modern facilities for hygienic and proper production of herbal medicines, which were known to cure about 60 percent of ailments in the country.

Addressing a cross section of herbal medicine practitioners and farmers from the Ashanti Region in Kumasi, as part of his three-day campaign tour, the NPP Presidential Candidate said the measure was to help reduce the importation of drugs into the country.

Dr. Bawumia pointed out that the role of herbal medicine in the treatment of ailments could not be overemphasised and there was the need to support the conduct of appropriate research to help strengthen efficacy, improve production, documentation and certification of such medicines.

Additionally, he said under his presidency herbal medicine would be captured under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Dr. Bawumia said agriculture and food production would be one of his major priorities if voted to lead the country in 2025.

He said the use of solar energy and mechanization of agricultural production to ensure all-year food production and increased income for farmers, would be the way to go, adding that, increasing farm yields and reducing the work of farmers was a necessity.

He said his government would embark on a project to establish a database for farmers to ensure that every farmer was recognized and provided the necessary assistance and support.

Dr. Bawumia said under his presidency, the Geological Survey Division of the Lands Commission would be empowered to carry out comprehensive survey on land areas which contained minerals across the country.

This would help in the proper demarcation of lands for mining and crop production.

When this was done, mining licenses would be issued under strict regulatory conditions to help prevent the conflict of crop production and mining in the country.

This would also help bring sanity in small scale mining and protect cocoa and other farmlands, which were being destroyed by illegal mining (galamsey) activities.

Dr. Bawumia pledged to work to improve the lives of cocoa farmers and introduce various interventions that would help increase cocoa production in the country.

He said the process to establish a pension scheme for the farmers would continue under his administration.

Some of the cocoa farmers present stressed the need for the government to properly test and access chemicals used for spraying of cocoa farms to ensure that they did not contain toxic substances that could affect cocoa beans.