Female farmer invests 600,000 cedis into business to improve yield

Mrs Lydia Gyebi Asare, the Chief Executive Officer of Yaamansah Farms at Nsawam, has invested 600,000 Ghana cedis in the cultivation of pineapples, catfish, and pawpaw to improve production. The 44-year-old farmer made a significant investment in 2016, which included purchasing land, hiring farmhands, and managing logistics to ensure the smooth operation of the farm. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mrs Asare said the 100-acre farmland had piggery, cassava, coconut, plantain, pineapple, and pawpaw farms and 20 earthen ponds used for catfishing. She also produced fingerlings and fish feed to complement what she purchased from the market, adding that she desired to contribute to improving food security in the country. The journey had not been easy, she said, as she experienced petty thefts, poor production due to lack of theoretical and practical knowledge in farming, and the inability to find a market for her produce. 'I didn't know anything about farming when I started, so I recorded poor production, especially in the catfishing. I also used to experience petty thefts of farm produce and some farm implants,' she said. However, after seven years, Mrs Asare noted that her investment and sacrifices had paid off when she emerged as the Eastern Regional Best Fish Farmer in 2023. In 2022 she produced 40,000 catfish to support the fish market and advised people who wished to go into farming to gain enough knowledge before venturing into it in order not to record losses as she did. Although agriculture contributes 54 per cent of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product, approximately 39 per cent of its labour force are women. Source: Ghana News Agency