"I don�t know him. I don�t even know whether it�s a name of a human being or animal, but I hear the name sometimes on the radio."
That is the shocking and heartbreaking answer a farmer in Jana, a farming community in the Northern region gave as an answer to a question about the Savannah Accelerated Development program.
Government has spent Millions of Cedis on the initiative to bridge the developmental gap between the North and the South.
But if the answer of the Jana based farmer is anything to go by then the managers of SADA must sit up.
The initiative is supposed to support the farmers with seeds, fertilizers and tractor services among others. But a lot of farmers are yet to benefit from the so called pride of the north, years after it was rolled out.
This week some journalists are touring selected farms and special agric project sites in seven regions.
Thanks to the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana. It has accused successive governments of paying lip service to agriculture and doing little to improve the lot of farmers.
But developments at Jana may vindicate the PFAG. The community close to the northern regional capital Tamale has no electricity or pipe -borne water.
A number of children of school going age are not in school despite government's target of universal access to basic education.
The community cr�che is comparable to a hen coop or pen for rearing goats. "All is not well with this community as you can all see. These are the people who are feeding those in the cities. Yet they don�t have water, electricity and even decent housing facilities" said Mohammed Nasiru, President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana as he pours out his frustrations after decades of farming.
But all hope is not lost as some of the community's youth resist the temptation of moving to Accra to search for nonexistent jobs.
18-year-old Fuseini Alhassan is in SHS two. Unlike his colleagues in other parts of the country, Fuseini wants to become a farmer despite the odds.
�Government must mechanize agriculture by providing high yielding seeds, subsidized fertilizers and better extension services to produce more food for local consumption and export".
<<Print>>