The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) and Ghana Federation of Agricultural Producers (GFAP), have organised a day’s sensitisation workshop for 54 farmers on fertilizer subsidy implementation guidelines. The workshop held in Accra on Wednesday was aimed at educating farmers on a new fertilizer subsidy programme introduced by government. Mr Justice Amoah, National Desk Officer in charge of the fertilizer subsidy programme, said the programme targets all category of crop farmers including small, medium and large scale farmers. In addition, he said, it was to create a platform for farmers to critique and recommend measures for sustainability and review for next year. He said government had subsidised 150,000 metric tonnes of fertilizers for the 2011 farming season on Nitrogen Phosphorous and Potassium fertilizer (NPK) 100,000 metric tonnes, Urea 20,000 metric tonnes, Sulphate of Ammonia 30,000 metric tonnes at an estimated cost of GH¢69.8 million. He said fertilizer application in the country was one of the lowest in the world. Mr Amoah said the strategy for the fertilizer subsidy included private companies selling the commodity through a competitive bidding process, with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) district offices serving as distribution points. “The target is to increase fertilizer use rate to at least 50kg/ha as recommended in the medium term agricultural sector investment of MOFA,” he added. On monitoring and supervision, he said, district and regional directors in collaboration with the security agencies would make periodic visits to ascertain sales and stock levels, while regular checks would also be carried by the fertilizer Desk Officers. Mr Amoah said the greatest challenge faced with the programme was the smuggling of the fertilizer to neighbouring countries and urged government to encourage banks to provide credit facilities to the private companies involved in the fertilizer distribution. He called for more distribution channels to be set up in the remote areas to increase fertilizer accessibility to farmers. He noted that plans were advanced for the establishment of a fertilizer production plant at Shama in the Western Region to take advantage of the by-product from Ghana’s crude oil production. “The plant will serve as a source of employment for the people, can generate foreign income and will also reduce the price of fertilizer in the country,” he added. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of PFAG said a research conducted by his outfit indicated that 60 per cent of the farmers, who assessed the subsidised fertilizer, had their yields increased. “For instance, rice yields increased from 15 bags per acre of paddy over 2004-2007 levels to between 18 and 24 bags in 2008,” he said. Mohammed Nashiru noted that in spite of the increase yields in food crops, 28.5 per cent of rural population still lived in extreme poverty and most of these are women. He said the fertilizer subsidy had been shown by the United Nations not only to increase production by 40 per cent but to decline hunger by nine per cent. He observed that the soils were depleting due to erosion and also becoming less and less fertile as a result of repeated use caused by limited access to land. The role of the subsidy on fertilizer, he said, was therefore very crucial to small scale producers. He said, for the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 1 there was the need to develop an expanded fertilizer programme that would allow easy access by all rural farmers especially women in the remotest community. Dr King David Amoah, President of GFAP, lauded government for the bold steps in introducing the fertilizer subsidy programme for farmers and also commended the two organisations for organising the event. Source: GNA