The government’s inability to settle debts to fertilizer suppliers for the 2021 supplies is reportedly jeopardizing the entire Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme across the country.
Reports indicate suppliers have refused to deliver the much-needed fertilizer to farmers for the 2022 farming season because of the government’s failure to pay for last season’s supplies.
The situation has prompted peasant farmers under the government’s flagship PFJ programme to send out a clarion call as their farming businesses are gradually shrieking to a halt.
According to the farmers, their suppliers are refusing to supply fertilizer for the current cropping season because the government has been reluctant to pay for what was distributed in 2021.
The livelihoods of these farmers are at stake if the government fails to address the situation because they will be left with no other option than to abandon the farming project, which will impact negatively on the PFJ programme.
The agriculture sector, according to available data, has seen a major rise over the last five years and the role of small-holder farmers cannot be overemphasized after actively embracing the Planting for Job Programme by the NPP Government.
The aspirations of these farmers are, however, dwindling as a result of the unavailability of fertilizers for their activities and the concerns spread across the Ashanti Region, North East, Upper East, Bono East, Bono and Ahafo Regions.
In the North East and Upper East Regions, farmers have the largest representation under the programme who cultivate beans, maize and yam. However, the recent development with the shortage of fertilizers is negatively affecting their work.
“The programme indeed has been helping us since its introduction because our lives depend on it but now it appears our farms are gradually dying off as our suppliers are unable to supply us with the fertilizers because the government owes them,” one maize farmer lamented.
The lamentation of farmers in the Ashanti Region is the same who also expressed the difficulty they are going through due to lack of fertilizer, especially in areas where rice farming is very common.
According to them, the fertilizer suppliers tell them the situation is a result of debts owed them by the government hence crippling their ability to make the commodity readily available to the farmers.
In the Bono and Ahafo Regions, the farmers have expressed their loss of interest in the PFJ programme following the shortage of fertilizer.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director for the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Dr. Charles Nyaaba has stated they predicted the current situation following the piling debts owed fertilizer suppliers.
He implored the government to settle the outstanding debts because it is the only way to address the situation.
Fertilizer suppliers have consistently lamented how their finances have been locked up due to debts owed by the government.
According to them, the government has been dragging its feet over the payments since last year while banks are also reluctant to offer more loans when the outstanding ones have not been settled.
Source: Mypublisher24.com