Increase components of fertilizer subsidy – Peasant Farmers to govt

The Programmes Officer with the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Bismarck Owusu Nortey, appealed to government to increase the component f the fertilizer subsidy as a way of supporting farmers during the planting season.

He also asked the government set up a special fund to help smallholder farmers who heavily contribute to the country’s food basket.

“Now that the planting season has started, a lot of farmers will need a lot of money to purchase inputs. Mind you, government is still running the fertilizer subsidy program for the Planting for Food and Jobs program where it is subsidizing 50% of the fertilizer.

“Now even with that subsidy component, if you look at the actual value that is about GHS 80 which is quite high,” he told Accra-based Citi FM.

He added: “So if government in a way as they are providing stimulus packages to other businesses, can find a way to see how they can even increase the subsidy component, so that instead of 50% it probably hovers around 75%, the prices of the input of fertilizer will come down.

“Once it comes down, the farmers will be able to afford and produce more because, with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, the movement of farmers has become somehow restricted because inasmuch as they move to their farms some of them are a bit cautious,” he added.