The Parliamentary Select Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs has recommended the mass mobilisation of students from senior high schools (SHSs) and public universities to help harvest large quantities of rice in parts of the Northern Region. Making the recommendation in Tamale, the committee said it had become necessary because of the delay in the procurement and distribution of combine harvesters to rice farmers in most parts of the country. It said its tour of rice farms across the country had revealed that heavy rains, especially in the Northern Region, had rendered some rice farms marshy and that would make it impossible for combine harvesters, even if made immediately available, to undertake the harvesting. The committee met with the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Sumani Nayina, in Tamale, during which the Chairman, Dr Alhassan Ahmed Yakubu, said on its return to Accra, Parliament would make a proposal to the government to mobilise labour from educational institutions for rice harvesting this year. He said that was critical in order to ensure that large quantities of rice did not go waste. "We cannot allow the nation's efforts to go to waste all because of a few setbacks," he intimated. Dr Yakubu said Parliament was aware of the untiring efforts that the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, was making towards procuring combine harvesters and making them available to farmers. "But, for now, we are not certain of the success of these efforts and so we must begin to mobilise labour before it is too late," he added. The select committee had paid a courtesy call on the regional minister as part of a working visit to the region to learn at first-hand the progress made in agriculture in the region and the challenges at hand. It was particularly worried that if labour was not mobilised in time for harvesting, the numerous rice farms which the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) had supported this year would go waste. For instance, the government had supported the cultivation of more than 10,000 acres of rice. At Bontanga in the Tolon/Kumbungu District, 641 acres of rice has been cultivated and it will be ready for harvesting between November and December this year. For his part, the regional minister hailed Parliament's proposal for labour to be mobilised from educational institutions, citing historical antecedents to buttress his point. "When the nation was facing sugar crisis during our university days, we the students mobilised and went to the sugar cane farms to harvest sugar cane. So much was harvested that the authorities could not even find enough storage facilities to store the produce," the minister recalled. Mr Nayina noted that the farming season had been very good this year due to the heavy rains. "We expect very good harvest, especially for maize and rice," he stated. He said if the government paid adequate attention to the promotion of agriculture in the country, the Northern Region alone could feed the entire nation. He, however, noted that there was the need for more investment in small irrigation systems to engender dry season fanning. Source: Daily Graphic