Business News of Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

TWMA Agric department gets motorbikes

Adwoa Amoako, MCE, Tema West Municipal Assembly presenting the motorbikes to the Agric department Adwoa Amoako, MCE, Tema West Municipal Assembly presenting the motorbikes to the Agric department

The Tema West Municipal Directorate of Agriculture has received motorbikes to facilitate its work and improve service delivery in the Municipality.

The motorbikes, numbering five, were funded by the Canadian government under the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana Project, which forms part of efforts by government to improve the agricultural sector.

The project is further aimed at modernizing Ghana’s Agriculture and ensuring national food security under the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Speaking at a brief presentation at the Assembly Headquarters, Mrs Adwoa Amoako, Municipal Chief Executive, Tema West Municipal Assembly (TWMA), said government was implementing several initiatives to ensure national food security.

She said government's Planting for Food and Jobs programme, had made significant strides as there was abandant food for domestic consumption and for exports this year.

The MCE called on the Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure that the motor bikes were maintained and put to good use for the benefit of farmers in the Municipality.

Madam Patience Alloh, the Acting Municipal Director of Agriculture, identified the shrinking size of farmlands due to estate development as a major problem in the Municipality.

The availability of farmlands, she indicated had been greatly affected due to urbanization in the Tema enclave as production of crops had reduced over the years.

To sustain farming throughout the year, she said farmers and households should do market-gardening and backyard farming to produce crops like vegetables for sale and consumption.

According to her, the significance of Agriculture to the Ghanaian economy could not be underestimated hence the need for the sector to be given the needed support.

She, therefore, noted that the motorbikes would remedy the challenge of mobility in agricultural extention.