Some farmers in Abom, Doublekrom, Pakyi Banko, and other villages have expressed worry over the poor road network which is making it difficult to access their farms and also transport farm produce for storage and market saying it is a threat to the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
Perishable food crops such as tomatoes, pepper, cabbage, lettuce and onion are vulnerable to the weather and spoil easily.
The farmers in the above mentioned villages within the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region an interview, said bush fires, stray and wild animals and unexpected rains has destroyed some of the crops harvested in November and December 2020, which were left on the farms due to lack of transport and storage facilities.
The farmers said even though they had good harvest last year most of their farm produce were lost during raining season as they were not able to transport the food crops to the market and their houses for storage.
“Vehicles cannot access the farms to convey our farm produce to the market for sale and this is leading to lot of loses”.
At Abom and Pakyi Banko, some of the Cocoa farmers said they might not be able to transport their vegetables to the market because there are no roads linking their farms and communities to the nearest market in the regional capital.
Some farmers in these villages in the Amansie West District are presently busy growing vegetables awaiting rainy season.
Mr Solomon and Ahmed Karikari, both vegetable and Cocoa farmers at Abom and Pakyi Banko, said their community has been cut off from Amansie West, the District and they are not able to transport their food produce to market centres in the region.
“Our vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and pepper among others get rotten on the farms when we are unable to transport them in time to the market”, the farmers said.
At Doublekrom, farming community in the Amansie West district, Cocoa farmers groups registered their displeasure on the road linking their community to Pakyi Kumasi road saying some farmers are pulling out of the Cocoa and vegetable farming business as they could not transport their produce to the market for sale.
Onion farmers at villages such as Camp and Bredi expressed frustration over the issue and appealed to the district assembly to rehabilitate some of the feeder roads that would enable them access their farms.
They reiterated that poor road network could be a threat to the success and sustainability of government flagship programmes such as the Planting for Food and Jobs among others.
