Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper East Region are to buy surplus food from local farmers to store so that it would be sold back to them at moderate prices during the lean season.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Mark Woyongo who made this remark  said the region was expecting a good harvest and in order to forestall the temptation to sell cheaply to market women or even smuggle out the extra food.
According to him, the assemblies would offer good prices and store the food so that the people could buy it back when they need it, from the months of March to June 2010 when the barns go empty.

The Minister said despite floods in some parts of the Region, most of the crops had done well and that signs lead to higher yields in sorghum, millet and rice this year.

He advised the farmers against smuggling food stuffs to neighbouring Togo and Burkina Faso, saying that the region had to store its food so that it would be consumed later.

Hon. Woyongo announced that various mills would be installed in Tamale, Bolgatanga and Wa to process shea butter, groundnut oil and soya bean oil, as the three regions could easily meet the raw material demands of the industry.

He reiterated that government was determined to improve Agricultural production and that farmers would be assisted in many ways to expand production.

He assured farmers in the region that there was a ready and good market for tomatoes since the nearby tomato processing factory would be able to buy all that they could offer.

Tags: farmers, ghana news, help, upper east