The Paramount Chief of the Tumu Traditional Area, Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton, has commended President John Mahama for awarding the Tumu-Navrongo Highway for tarring, of which work is progressing steadily.
He however stated that the same could not be said about the Tumu-Wa Highway and appealed to President Mahama to endeavour to see to the completion of the road before the end of his first tenure of office, to help facilitate the movement of goods and services.
He also noted that apart from the two highways, the Sissala area, which was noted for high production of cereals and other food crops, its road networks were very bad.
Kuoro Kanton made the commendation during the ?Paari Gbielle? festival of the chiefs and people of the Tumu Traditional area at the weekend.
He said during the raining seasons, the people found it very difficult to travel to and from their communities to purchase farm inputs and other requirements while some communities were cut off for months due to heavy rains.
The Tumu-Kuoro therefore appealed to government to take urgent measures to expedite action and put those roads in good shape to open up those communities to market centres to boost food production and incomes of the people.
He also expressed concern about the high cost of farm inputs chemicals and tractor services in the last farming season, which he said had a heavy toll on farmers as many of them could not afford and that affected their production levels.
?It is my hope that government subsidies the cost of farm inputs, chemicals and tractor services. Adequate measures should be put in place to curb smuggling so that this intervention will help peasant farmers,? the Tumu Kuoro said.
Kuoro Kanton also spoke about the activities of middlemen, who buy farm produce at low prices after harvest, which affected the incomes of farmers.
He suggested to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to institute a pricing mechanism just as it had been done for cocoa to protect farmers from unscrupulous middlemen.
The Tumu-Kuoro expressed disappointment that the Tumu Township was without any source of water, saying the old dam which was constructed in the 1940s had been silted and could no longer hold sufficient water to meet the demands of the people.
He therefore urged government to consider providing the people of Tumu with a dam for domestic use and for irrigation purposes as well as extending utility services to suburbs in the township.
On industries, Kuoro Kanton said sheanut production was high in the district and it should be developed to provide employment for the youth and the women should be empowered economically to help reduce poverty.
He reminded government about the collapse of the cotton industry in the district, saying OLAM Ghana which was given the mandate to implement government?s ?white gold? initiative in 2010 to provide income opportunities for cotton farmers had folded up and left the farmers to their fate.
Kuoro Kanton called for the repackaging of the initiative to boost cotton production to earn foreign exchange for Ghana.
About the upsurge of armed robbery cases on the Tumu-Jeffisi-Wa, Tumu-Wellembelle-Wa, and Tumu-Gwollu-Wa roads, which had led to loss of lives and property, Kuoro Kanton appealed to the Regional Security Council and the Ministry of Interior to map out pragmatic measures to curb the menace.
?This situation creates fears and panic among travelers and it affects the socio-economic development of the region?, he pointed out.
GNA
