Lack of electricity is impeding the work of the 2011 National Best farmer, Ignatius Agbo who says farmers are poor because the system is subjecting them to poverty. The 54 year-old farmer who on Friday was adjudged the nation’s best farmer, said this in an exclusive interview on Multi TV’s current affairs show, pm: EXPRESS. He expressed worry that apart from cocoa, there are no proper storage facilities available for other food crops produced locally – a situation he says is contributing to the poverty status of the country’s farmers. With a large acreage of citrus farms, Mr. Agbo lamented that he often has to donate part of his harvest to charity so that his efforts do not go to waste – thus minimizing post harvest loses. “I have citrus which I can harvest (to fill) about ten articulators. When there is no market, I have to dash it to the orphanage but if I have facilities that I can process it, I can make use of it or feed the school feeding program with the orange juice” he said exasperatedly. Mr. Agbo also indicated that if electricity were readily available in his Zion number 2 community, he could personally buy or source loan from government to buy processing machines to process the citrus into juice. Apart from the lack of electricity at Zion no 2 where Mr. Agbo has his 460 acreage farm, storage facilities are another major challenge. “Ghanaians enjoy plantain very much and if we have storage facility for that, it will be very good but it seems only cocoa has storage facilities in this country. At first we had food distribution companies that we could sell our maize directly to but as at now, we don’t have those companies anymore”. He laments the lack of storage facilities places them at the mercy of the market women who often cheat them. “If you don’t take it to the market for the market women to buy it or cheat you, then you won’t get anybody to come for them. So that also is making the farmers very poor in their activities because though he works hard, he cannot get a good market price because he can’t get the straight market cocoa is getting and there are no storage facilities to store for some time and find out the market price” he added. Mr. Agbo whose farm is 15 kilometers from Dunkwa in the Upper Denkyira East district of the Central Region is into general farming on his 460 acre farmland including 160 acres of cocoa plantation, with a production capacity of 1500 bags annually from his cocoa farm. He expressed disquiet about farming in Ghana though he says it is a fine business. According to him, given government’s support, farming would be a very profitable venture to go into because almost all the land space in Ghana is arable, but the lack of motorable roads is a disincentive to many a farmer especially the youth who are dissuaded by the lack of ready market. He thus appealed to government to develop the farming communities so that wards of farmers can receive quality education just like other professionals whose jobs allow them to be in the cities. Mr. Agbo also raised issues over government not resourcing the extension workers who have been tasked to help the farmers to produce more to feed the country through the use of new technologies. “Government needs to motivate them by either giving them motor bikes or cars to facilitate their work”.