Mr Osborn Divine Fenu, District Chief Executive for North Tongu, says more investment in agriculture will provide biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuel in response to the increasing energy needs.
“In this vein, there is now the tendency of moving away from fossil fuel such as petroleum to renewable energy sources.”
Mr Fenu gave the advice at Aveyime during this year’s 38th Farmers’ Day event held in the North Tongu District.
He said biofuel is a source of renewable energy produced from farms and farm by-products.
He said: “Products such as ethanol and vegetable oils are combustible and can be used to run engines that will finally power industries. So, imagine the potential of an agricultural sector that is providing a considerable source of energy to an economy such as the Ghanaian economy.”
Mr Fenu observed that North Tongu has abundant arable land and water bodies and there was the need to make the best out of them, although most of the people in the district engaged in farming and fishing.
He appealed to the youth to venture into agriculture and take advantage of the opportunities for agribusiness to become financially independent.
“The agriculture sector has been the main economic backbone of the country since independence and still contributes significantly to the nation’s development by means of employment generation, food security and revenue for the country,” Mr Fenu said.
He also added that the district is blessed with factories such as Sino Ethanol Manufacturing Company Limited among others, all in support of agribusiness development.
He, therefore, encouraged the private sector to show interest in government policies to be supported to expand to achieve the government objective of the IDIF.
He said the Department of Agriculture had worked with the regional agriculture Department to give farmers tree crop seedlings such as coconuts and mangoes under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme.
Furthermore, farmers in the district were given access to sources of subsidised inputs including maize, rice and various vegetable seeds as well as fertilizers under the government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs initiative.
Awards were presented to farmers adjudged to have excelled in the district.
Dodzi Lawertey, a farmer from Alabama, was crowned as the overall best Farmer in the District.
