Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has vowed to support farmers in Ghana with tractors and credit to boost productivity and reduce food prices.

During a campaign rally in Wa East, Dr Bawumia acknowledged the vital role farming plays in ensuring food security and affordability.

He emphasised that farming is the key to bringing down food prices and pledged to provide farmers with the necessary resources to increase their yields.

Dr. Bawumia cited the examples of Brazil and China, where farmers produce 10 and 12 tons of maize per acre, respectively, compared to Ghana’s average yield of four tons per acre.

To address this disparity, Dr. Bawumia promised to introduce advanced farming practices from Brazil and China to Ghanaian farmers.

He also announced plans to establish “super aggregators” that would purchase produce directly from farmers, ensuring they receive fair prices and reducing post-harvest losses.

He also highlighted the importance of using lime fertilizers to improve soil fertility, noting that Ghana has an abundance of lime deposits.

“I want to help our farmers. Farming is the key to bringing food prices down and we are going to help the farmers increase their productivity. If you go to Brazil, an acre of land, maize can come to 10 tons, in China they can get 12 tons, but in Ghana, we get only four tons.

“I’m going to apply the practices that we are seeing that have worked in Brazil and in China to our farmers in the Wa East District, to increase productivity.”

“We are going to establish super aggregators who will come and buy the produce from the farmers so that the food does not go to waste and they can get good prices for their goods.

“We are going to help the farmers with tractors and with credit for them to harvest and we are going to move from the normal fertiliser to lime, lime makes our soil very fertile, and we have lime in Ghana and we are going to help our farmers use lime in Ghana.”