Farmer services workers are being encouraged to venture into farming themselves to serve as additional motivation for farmers they serve.

Kintampo North Municipal Director of Agriculture, Mr. Simon Yambor, says it is easier to win people over to invest into a business with mentorship.

"How do you tell people to go into farming when you don't have one," Mr.  Yambor asks to buttress his point that, workers at the Ministry of Food and a\Agriculture must have farms to serve as evidence that, farming is good business. 

"You don't have any excuse to say there is no land in your area."

He added that there are good examples of people who travel kilometres away to grow crops or rear animals. 

Mr. Yambor also bases his arguments on that fact, many extension agents find it difficult to introduce new varieties to farmers, because there is no evidence on the ground to convince them. 

For him, there is no need to even try to convince any farmer, “show them the evidence”. 

He says, extension agents should rather show them testimonies by a way of planting them.

Mr. Yambor has about 500 acres of rice farm.

He says his farm served as a reference for some farmers to cultivate new varieties under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

He started with just an acre of farmland which gave him about 19 bags of rice at a shorter period than farmers’ own. 

According to him, the local farmers themselves rushed to buy his produce even before hey got to the market. 

"It was difficult to get farmers to plant the new varieties. But today, they are rushing to our office because they saw what I harvested. " He explains. 

The Agric Director employs farm hands to keep his farm in shape. Isaac Kengey and Fuseini Alhassan are two of them who take care of the farm. 

They walk kilometers to the farms three times a day because of possible destruction by herdsmen in the area. 

Mr. Yambor expects a bumper harvest of rice at the end of the season.