Perishable agricultural products go to waste in Pusiga district | Social

Vegetable farms in the Pusiga district of the Alto Oriente region are perishing as the roads linking farms to shopping centers are washed away by week-long torrential rains and spillage from the Bagre and Kompienga dams in Burkina Faso.

Several communities in the area have been cut off from the district capital and other districts of the Bawku enclave due to poor road networks that make it difficult for farmers to access their farms and transport their produce to shopping centers.

The downpour caused the Volta Blanco and its tributaries to overflow, razing roads and making it difficult for farmers who had been able to harvest their vegetables to reach markets.

Some of the vegetables include; tomatoes, pepper, onion, garden eggs, cabbage, cucumber and okra among others.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Mahamudu Iddi, Director of the Pusiga District Agriculture Department, pointed out that vegetable growers were the most affected in the area as they were unable to transport their perishable products to the shopping centers of the district capital. in Pusiga, Bawku and Bolgatanga to sell.

He said that several crops, mainly maize, millet and sorghum along the tributaries of the Volta Blanco were destroyed as some of the farms were razed while others were flooded.

Iddi said the area was already a water-prone area along with a poor road network connecting farming communities to shopping malls and other districts, so the effect of the rains was devastating, although it was too early to assess. the total impact. of the flood.

He mentioned the Zongnatinga and Kolnaba rivers, among other tributaries of the Volta Blanco that had overflowed, completely destroying several hectares of crops in the main communities, including; Communities of Dabia, Nakom, Margo, Zaarabogo and Ninkongo.