This would help secure good prices for their farm produce and end the exploitation of buyers – middlemen, while also curbing post-harvest losses - a perennial challenge hindering their businesses.

Mr Clement Duku, Chairman of the Farmers Union said one of the goals of the group’s establishment was to safeguard the investments of its members who were predominantly smallholder farmers in the production of various agricultural products such as maize, rice, fruits, and vegetables, among other food crops.

He was speaking at an ordinary meeting held at Effiduase and attended by the over 500 registered members across the various communities in that District.

Mr Duku, therefore, called on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), development partners and sector agencies such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, COCOBOD and the Department of Cooperatives, to support them with both technically and financially.

Mr. Morrison Nketiah, Community Extension Agent of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) of COCOBOD, touching on the relevance of contract farming urged the farmers to apply the same principles and techniques used in selling cocoa beans from their farms.

Mr Samuel Owusu Takyi, the Executive Director of the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) at Kumasi, also speaking at the meeting assured the farmers of KITA’s continuous technical and consultancy support to the group and urged the farmers not to be discouraged saying “their toils will not be in vain”.