Over the years, farmers in the northern region of Ghana and other parts of the country have suffered the agony of finding no ready markets for their agricultural produce. Their agony is now over, thanks in large part to Shinkaafa Buni Rice Farmers Association which is offering highly competitive prices for rice, maize and soybeans.
It should be noted that this is a strategy designed by the Shinkaafa Buni Rice Farmers Association to ensure that farmers obtain higher yields of rice and other grains that will meet the standard of every buyer, including factories.
Briefing the media in Tamale, the executive director of the Shinkaafa Buni Farmers Association, Samuel Sarpong identified the lack of preferred rice seeds, the lack of technology and the type of soil as some of the challenges the rice sector is facing and called on government to invest in the sector to limit the importation of rice in the country.
Agricultural extension plays a crucial role in promoting best farming practices for agricultural productivity, increasing food security, improving rural livelihoods, and promoting agriculture towards economic growth. Extension as a rural support service is essential to meet the new challenges confronting agriculture.
To teach modern farming methods so far as rice farming is concerned, Shinkaafa Buni ensures that farmers benefit from gaining knowledge on land preparation. Farmers are also educated on adhering to the cropping calendar for timely application of inputs that will suit the entire season. Another benefit a farmer derives from Shinkaafa Buni as far as extension service is concerned is advisory and supervision service.
In earlier times, agriculture and most of its activities were done manually, requiring a great deal of labour, which sometimes come with a lot of challenges, such as poor yields, late harvest, post-harvest losses and in the case of the northern sector of Ghana, sometimes fire gutting the farms, especially rice farms, as the harvesting season coincides with the arrival of the harmattan season from the sub-Saharan region.
These and other reasons prompted the Shinkaafa Buni Rice Farmers Association to provide tractor and combine harvester services for timely and easy harvesting to prevent fire consuming crops or post-harvest loss.
Shinkaafa Buni is calling on every farmer who wants to go into rice farming to take advantage of its existence in order to get richer to develop their livelihoods.
BY:LILIAN D.WALTER