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Opinions of Monday, 19 July 2021

Columnist: Justice Phinehas Gyesi

Replace scarce fertilizer with organic manure to support Planting for Food and Job

The author says the ministry must spend time to educate farmers on how to apply the organic manure The author says the ministry must spend time to educate farmers on how to apply the organic manure

I was surprised and totally shocked when I read that the planting for food and Job initiative is struggling to survive. I started asking myself several questions as to why such a laudable initiative by the Agriculture Ministry could be struggling like that.

After a thorough reading, I realized that aside the ministry finding it very difficult to pay its partners and suppliers, the subject matter is the unavailability of fertilizer to promote the said initiative. But the problem is, is the fertilizer the only alternative and can't it be replaced with any other thing to make the Planting for Food and Job run smoothly?

I have had an opportunity to work on a poultry farm for the past few years, and one very thing I realized is that most farmers are taking advantage of the manure or the droppings from the poultry. This is the traditional method that has been proven effective for several years.

There are some of these organic manures that go waste as a result of not getting enough Farmers to purchase and the poultry farmers aren't able to preserve them so, in the end, it goes waste.

Droppings from these cattle, sheep, goats, and poultry can be easily be purchased by the Ministry, preserve, and transformed into a more appropriate product that can be distributed and shared among the Farmers.

The Ministry must spend time to educate farmers as to how best they can apply the organic manure and droppings from the animals. In doing so, I believe the Planting for Food and Job would be on its feet despite the unavailability of fertilizer to support it.

A laudable initiative like planting for food and Job should be able to survive for longer years. May God bless our Homeland Ghana, And make Her Great and Strong.