Plantain production is the third most important food cultivation in Ghana, after yam and cassava. This year, the harvest was exceptional. Farmers owe this good yield of plantains to the good rains of 2018, but also to the reduced threat from the nomadic herders, especially in the region of Agogo. For a long time, nomadic herders have terrorized farmers, killing and raping their wives, while their cattle attacked the farms in the Asante Akyem area, the Afram plains and some parts of the Volta region. Thanks to the government’s intervention and the creation of ranches in the Afram plains, they are now confined to the fodder reserves.
With the construction of the 47-mile road from Agogo to Maame Krobo, in the Afram plains, farmers are now able to export their plantains to Burkina Faso, Togo, Benon and the Ivory Coast.
Nana Boakye Yiadom, from Akyeamehene of Agogo, revealed to the Daily Graphic that, until now, plantain cultivation was limited to forest areas but it is now developing in the region of Agogo, which is now a “booming city”.
The exact quantities of plantains exported to Burkina Faso, Togo, the Ivory Coast and other countries are not known yet, but the data recorded in Agogo indicate that seven large trucks of plantains leave town every week for Burkina Faso.
According to a 2006 survey from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the plantain accounts for approximately 13.1% of the agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) and an annual per capita consumption of 224.4 lbs per inhabitant in Ghana.
Source : Bénin 24 Télévision