Cassava Farmers in Damongo and its environs in the West Gonja district of the Savannah region, are appealing to government to come to their aid under the One District One Factory (1D1F) flagship programme.

The farmers, who are mostly commercial, say they have been consistently unable to recoup their investments and are struggling to repay their bank loans.

As a cassava production hub, the Savannah region especially, the West Gonja district between 2017 and 2018, produced 73, 506 metric tonnes of cassava.

Despite the potential economic benefits farmers say for some time now, their situation has deteriorated due to lack of ready market.

During a visit to homes and farms in Larabanga and Damongo, both suburbs of the region, it was observed that a significant amount of cassava farms had yet to be harvested due to lack of market.

Abdul Rahim, a young farmer and a resident of Larabanga, told Joy News "after harvesting and processing them into dry cassava, or "konkonte" (cassava flour), there is still no market."

Mr. Abdul Rahim said farmers still have hundreds of hectares of cassava left on their farms because they cannot access a ready market.

At the West Gonja District Agric Office, officials said there is the capacity to produce and feed a cassava processing factory if one is constructed under the 1D1F programme.

Salamatu Jato, is a known gari processor in Damongo.

With a relatively weak cassava Value Chain in this part of the country, it is still imperative for government to intervene and salvage the business of these farmers.