Harvesting and threshing of rice by small-scale rice farmers in nine communities in the Hohoe Municipality, which is gradually becoming the biggest rice-producing area in the Volta Region, promises to be less laborious and time consuming, thanks to Green Shield Agro-Chemicals, suppliers of agricultural inputs.
According to projections by Green Shield, it would soon introduce tractor-mounted threshers to reduce the toil of the rice farmers at Ve-Golokuati, Koloenu, Gbi Wegbe, Akpafu Odomi, Mempeasem, Wli Afegame, Lolobi, Likpe and Santrokofi.
Speaking during a rice farmers forum at Hohoe last Thursday, the Operations Manager of Green Shield, Efo Kumah Ameyibor, said the company was collaborating with an Indian firm to bring in 20 of the tractor-mounted threshers worth GH¢5,200 each during the current farming season.
He said the machines had been specially designed to suit the needs of marshland farmers who had all along been manually harvesting and threshing their rice.
He said from what the company observed in the past year, it realised that the laborious harvesting and threshing processes the farmers had to undergo to bring their produce to the market negatively affected the yield they should have recorded.
A Senior Agronomist and Value Chain Specialist of the Agricultural Co-operative Development International and the Volunteers Overseas Co-operation (ACDI/VOCA), Dr Ben Dadzie, said last year, the implementing agency of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) mobilised 84 rice farmers, comprising 75 out-growers and nine nucleus farmers to cultivate 438 acres of lowland rice in the municipality.
“Through the assistance received under the agricultural component of the Millennium Challenge Account being managed by the MiDA, the farmers were given two weeks’ training in good agricultural practices,” he stated.
Dr Dadzie said in addition, the farmers were assisted through special interventions such as credit facilities provided by the Gbi Rural Bank, as well as inputs from the Green Shield Agro-Chemical Company like fertilisers, seeds, weedicides and pesticides, to increase their yields.
According to the senior agronomist, out of a target of 2,000 tonnes set for the season, a total of 1,604 tonnes of the paddy rice harvested had been transported to the Prairie Volta Limited at Aveyime for milling and onward delivery to the FINATRADE.
He said more tonnes of the harvest were yet to be delivered.
Dr Dadzie said during the 2010 season, which begins in July, the MiDA and FINATRADE, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), would increase the number of farmers under the project.
He said 2,500 acres would be put under rice cultivation in support of the government’s policy of increasing local rice production and reducing rice imports.
The only setback, he stated, was the numerous tree stumps on the rice fields, which made it impossible for machines like tractors, power tillers and combine harvesters to be used.
Dr Dadzie said to address the problem, which accounted for the high cost of labour and post-harvest losses, the MiDA, in collaboration with FINATRADE, was able to acquire some rice reapers and threshers for the farmers, “but these efforts were hampered by the numerous tree stumps on the rice fields”.
Dr Dadzie appealed to the government to address their constraints and help resolve some of the challenges faced by the farmers in order to increase their acreage and yields.
The ACDI/VOCA is implementing the Commercial Development of Farmer–based Organisation (CDFO), a component of the agriculture project in 16 districts of the southern zone of the country, with focus on five major crops, namely rice, maize, vegetables, pineapples and mangoes.
They include North Dayi, Hohoe, Ketu North, Ketu South, Tongu and Akatsi, all in the Volta Region.
Dr Dadzie said the project was boosted with an agreement which also brought in the FINATRADE, a trading organisation, to offer ready market for the rice farmers.
A senior official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr Bessa Akpalu, advised the farmers to see agriculture as a big venture, adding that he was proud the region had seen a boost in rice production since last year.
Mr Akpalu said last year, 250 farming groups were given a two-week training and financial assistance to go into rice production with loans through the Gbi Rural Bank for their farming activities.
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