A farmer at Siriyiri, a community in the Wa West district whose maize was about a month ago invaded by the fall army worms is now smiling as the crops are doing well.
The farmer Adulai kareem told Starr News’ Upper West regional correspondent Musah Lansah that due to his inability to purchase the chemicals, he allowed fate to take care of his crops.
He said, “For me, I did not add anything to it. I did not have money to buy the chemicals as my attempts to get it from the Ministry of Agriculture office proved futile. I just allowed God to handle it for me.”
A visit to the farm by Musah Lansah a month ago revealed a very sorry state for Mr. Kareem’s farm as the marauding worms had taken over the whole farm. When he was asked what he intended doing then, he said, “for m, I have nothing to do. I can’t get the chemicals from the agric people and I don’t have money to buy from the open market.”
The farmer who is also into organic farming disclosed that he did not take advantage of the subsidized fertilizer policy of government. According to him, he prefers using the dung from his animals than going in for the inorganic fertilizer.
He said, “I did not go for the subsidized fertilizer because I am used to depending on my animals to farm. This gives me a better yield than the inorganic fertilizer.”
Checks from the Wa West District Directorate of Agric reveals that out of the 46,256 bags of subsidized fertilizer supplied to the district only 14,460 bags were distributed to farmers in the area.
According to officials at MOFA, the number supplied to the district is more than the demand of the district as such the remainder will be stored and used for the next planting season.
