The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trades Union Congress, has decried lack of tractors for ploughing services for cotton farmers in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. This the Union said had made most farmers uncertain about their productivity this year. It has therefore called on the Government to help provide tractor services to the farmers or liaise with the cotton companies to address the problem in order not to decrease the expected production targets. Mr Karim Saagbul, Programme Officer of GAWU raised this concern in Tamale on Wednesday during a day’s capacity building workshop for cotton farmers drawn from the three northern regions. The workshop was aimed at building the capacity of cotton farmers in influencing public policy, group dynamics and organising them for higher productivity and networking among themselves. Mr Saagbul said although the government procured some tractors for farmers they were inadequate and could be found mainly at agricultural mechanisation centres where only few people benefited from their services. He said under the new policy of the government to revamp cotton production, the North had been re-zoned into three and being taken care of by three companies- Armajaro, Wienco and Olam. Mr Abdul-Rahman Mohammed, National President of Cotton Farmers Division of GAWU indicated that cotton cultivation was time-bound, emphasising that June was usually the month of cultivation of cotton and anything short of that could negatively affect the crop yield. He said the problem of ploughing was prevalent in the three regions. Mr Mohammed appealed to the government not to fail cotton farmers in the North since cotton was a cash crop that could reduce their poverty level. Source: GNA