Lawra, Oct. 6, GNA - Naa Puowele Karbo III, the Paramount Chief of t= he Lawra Traditional Area, has appealed to government to consider converting the Babile Agricultural Station into an Agricultural Training College. He said government policy to modernize agriculture through the introduction of modern technologies and development of entrepreneurial skills could be achieved through the establishment of agricultural training institutions to help in training the youth.

Naa Karbo made the appeal at this year's 93Kob-bine" festival of the chiefs and people of the Lawra Traditional Area at Lawra on Wednesday. He said the Babile Agricultural Station was one of the two outstations for the then Nyankpala Agricultural Institute in the fifties which was late= r used as a brigade camp for food production.

The station has large tracts of uncultivated lands, an office, residential accommodation and other infrastructure. Naa Karbo said the establishment of the college would offer opportunities for skills and entrepreneurial training in agri-business and produce the much needed extension staff to modernize agriculture in the region. "We are therefore, once again appealing to President John Evans Atta Mills to consider our request for the conversion of the under-utilised Babile Agricultural Station to an Agricultural College", Naa Karbo pleade= d. Naa Karbo called for the development of irrigation facilities in the Lawra Traditional Area adding that efforts should also be made to rehabilitate the existing dams in the area into small scale irrigation schemes.

He also appealed for the establishment of a Teacher Training College and a radio station in the district. Naa Karbo commended the government for the numerous development projects in the district including the award of contract on the Nadowli-Lawra-Nandom=96Hamile road which he said when completed would facilitate trade between Ghana and Burkina Faso.