Damanko Farmers Demand Better Roads

Yam famers and buyers at Damanko in the Nkwanta North District of the Oti Region are appealing to the government to help them get their fair share of the national cake by providing them with better roads to enable them transport their produce to market centres.

According to the farmers, it has become extremely difficult to transport their farm produce to market centres for sale as drivers kept refusing to ply the road during the raining season.

Speaking in an interview, Chairman of the Yam Sellers Association, Kofi Nikuma noted that Damanko Market was so integral to trading activities which could attract traders from far away but had been left out as farmers and individuals continually lose their produce after harvesting as a result of the appalling nature of the Nkwanta-Damanko stretch of the stalled Eastern Corridor Road.

Mr. Nikuma further stated that due to this, market women and traders who “visit the area, buy the produce at cheaper prices making farmers poorer.”

He therefore called on government to complete the abandoned Eastern Corridor Road project, especially the Damanko to Nkwanta stretch to open the area up to alleviate the suffering of farmers.

Some traders lamented among other things, the high transport fares drivers charge them and the long hours they had to endure on their journeys due to the bad road.

They appealed to the government to come to their aid to get the road fixed while calling on the district assembly to construct market sheds with stalls to boost their business.

Meanwhile, some drivers who ply the road in reaction to the claims by the traders, defended the transport fares saying, they needed to find a way to keep their vehicles on the road because after every journey, they needed to visit the mechanics for maintenance for the “road is bad.”