Ashanti GJA to venture into commercial farming

A 20- acre farmland donated to the Ashanti Regional Ghana Journalists Associations (GJA) by the Sekyere Afram Plains District, is to be cultivated for commercial farming. The land is located at Dagomba, a farming community near Drobonso, the district capital, lies very close to an irrigation dam and the GJA is considering putting the land into immediate use by cultivating vegetables on it. Mr. Fuseini Donkor, the District Chief Executive (DCE), officially handed over the land to the Regional GJA executives during a courtesy call on him, in connection with activities to honour the memory of Samuel Enin, its past chairman, who was shot and killed by some assailants in Kumasi. He said it was part of the assembly�s 200 acre land earmarked for groundnuts and cassava farming, to help feed groundnut paste and cassava processing factory to be set up in the district. The DCE, who led the journalists to inspect the land, said the gesture was to enable the GJA to get involved in agriculture to highlight the problems faced by farmers and the challenges in farming in general. He said it was also the district�s contribution towards helping the GJA to boost its finances and support the Samuel Enin endowment fund to be set up by the association. Mr Donkor said farming was the main pre-occupation of the people in the area and he believed the venture would serve as a source of employment to the farmhands. He assured that Fulani herdsmen and their cattle, in the area unlike, those in the Asante-Akim North do not pose a threat to farmers as they rarely destroyed farm crops. �Plans are underway by the assembly to register all Fulani herdsmen and their cattle to ensure easy identification in the event of any devastation to farms and commit the said herdsmen to pay compensation� he said. He invited agro-processing industries to take advantage of the vast rich farmlands in the district to do farming. Mr Listowell Yesu Bukarson, Regional Chairman of the GJA, thanked the DCE and said the association was proud to be part of the country�s food production chain to boost food security. He appealed for support by way of irrigation machines and farm inputs to enable the project to take off immediately. The late Enin, who was also an editor at Ash FM, a local FM radio station in Kumasi, was killed whilst relaxing at a drinking spot with friends after closing from work. The regional association has instituted an annual memorial lectures to honour him. This will be the high point for a litany of activities, including a mini soccer festival with the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA).