The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has committed to making agriculture his top priority if elected President in the 2024 general elections.

During a courtesy call on Sandem-Nab, Nab Azaksuk Azantilow, Paramount Chief of the Builsa Traditional Area, Dr. Bawumia outlined an ambitious vision to transform the agricultural sector.

Speaking on his campaign tour in the Upper East Region, Dr. Bawumia assured farmers that he would seek partnerships with countries like Brazil and China to adopt best practices and advanced technologies to significantly boost crop productivity.

“Agriculture is going to be my number one priority. We will make sure that we have all the different pillars in place for farmers,” he emphasised.

Dr. Bawumia pledged to establish District Agricultural Mechanisation centres across farming districts, aimed at providing affordable equipment to enhance production.

He expressed a desire to learn from nations with higher productivity in crops such as maize and rice.

“I want to bring in the best practices from countries like Brazil and China that have higher productivity in crops such as maize and rice. We want to also learn from them to adopt some of those technologies that are giving them two or three times the yields per acre that we are doing,” he said.

Moreover, Dr. Bawumia vowed to shift Ghana’s focus away from chemical fertilizers, advocating for the use of lime to improve soil fertility.

“I want Ghana to move away from chemical fertilizers for our soil to lime. Lime is the way forward. We have limestone in Ghana and it is much cheaper than the fertilizer, and we want to help the farmers with this new soil fertility treatment through lime,” he added.