Mr Karim Nanyua, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sissala East, has described the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as ‘farmer friendly’ government working to make farming more lucrative and rewarding.

He said as a people centred government, everything is being done to ensure that farmers are not left out in the good governance system of the NPP administration.

"For the many farmers who stay weeks without work after harvesting their farm produce by December, gardening has been identified as an option for such farmers to indulge in, hence, government’s extension of gardening materials to farmers in the Sissala East municipality", he said.

Mr Nanyua said this during the handing over of four new pumping machines to the Vegetable Producers Association of Tumu, Tasor, Welembelle and Kong to aid in their dry season gardening efforts.

“Earlier, power tillers and other equipment were distributed as one of the surest ways to tackle poverty in the area to engage in dry season gardening", he said.

He said it is in this vein that government is constructing dams across the municipality under its ‘one village one dam’ policy to provide water for farmers to embark on all year farming.

"This government has come to support farmers both in the rainy and dry season gardening and I can confidently say the NPP is a farmer friendly government given what they have done with the introduction of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, the introduction of the fertilizer subsidy, the ‘Planting for Food and Export’ and the farm mechanization centers being introduced”.

Mr Nanyua, however, admonished the association to handle the equipment with care and assured them that more are still in the pipeline but that would depend on how they utilize the equipment.

He said "these are properties of government and not in your personal properties but meant to help you do your work, you will sign to receive them from the Sissala East Assembly but will be taken care of by your associations and groups".

Mr Yussif Kodimah the Chairman of the Upper West Regional Vegetable Producers Association, said the formation of the association would provide them the needed recognition and platform to articulate their views to push for the wellbeing of their members.

"We are seeking to create a vegetable market to solve the problem of inadequate market access that many garden dwellers face”, he said.

Mr Yussif Kodimah expressed worry over lack of market for Sissala East garden farmers and expressed the hope that with the inauguration of the association many of their problems would be solved.

He advised farmers engaged in gardening to cultivate high value or leafy vegetables such as ‘ayoyo’ and lettuce among others.