Nkoranza (B/A) Jan. 12, GNA - Mr. Samson Yaw Kudom, Nkoranza District Chief Farmer, has advised farmers to be cautious about the way they handle naked fire during the dry season to avoid making bushfires.

He suggested to farmers to take along cooked food to their farmsteads in order to avoid the making of fire on the farm to cook. Mr. Kudom was addressing more than 200 farmers at a meeting at Nkoranz= a aimed at sharing ideas for their wellbeing and other activities in the New Year.

The District Chief Farmer expressed concern about how bushfires had become an annual ritual in Nkoranza district despite the educational campaigns on the issue staged before every harmattan season. Mr. Kudom noted with regret a number of cashew and mango farms, as wel= l as food stuffs such as maize, yam, cassava and plantain, which get destroye= d through bushfires every year plunging the people into famine and poverty. Mr. Kudom stressed the need for farmers to visit their farms regularly to check the incidence of bushfires.

He cautioned the youth against group hunting and urged community leaders to check the movements and activities of group hunters. Palm-wine tappers and 91Akpeteshie' distillers should be careful in handling the fire they use at their work places so that they do not spread to other places to cause bushfires, the chief farmer advised. Mr Kudom called on religious leaders to use the pulpit to educate the people about the dangers associated with bushfires and assist in combating such disasters in the communities. He appealed to community fire volunteers in the district to be committed to their work to save lives, properties and the environment.