Ghana: 65% of arable land in Northern Region lying idle – Alhaji Shaibu

Only 35 percent of arable lands, approximately 2,315,43 hectares are under cultivation in the Northern Region, while the remaining 65 percent are lying idle, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, the Regional Minister has revealed. He attributed the situation to the over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, low mechanisation, high post-harvest losses and poor marketing affecting large scale farming in the area even though all crops do thrive in the area. The Minister was taking his turn to sell his Region during the official opening of the 37th edition of the Farmers’ Day celebration and Trade Exhibition in Cape Coast last Monday. However, he was hopeful that considering the numerous valleys in the Eastern and Central parts of the region, in addition to some small and medium scale dams, the issue of irrigation for crops will be resolved. The farmers in his area, he said had embraced government’s policy interventions as an effective measure of strengthening and expanding the target areas to ...