Female farmers in Agogo in the Asante Akyem Central District of the Ashanti Region will have police escort when going to the farm.
This new development, according to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah is due to the high incidence of alleged rape and other atrocities visited on natives by the Fulani herdsmen in the area.
He revealed this on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Thursday days after some security personnel who are part of Operation Cow Leg were shot by some herdsmen in the area.
Productivity is dwindling as a result, with many people giving up the vocation in a predominantly agricultural community.
Farmers in the area have the capacity to cultivate and harvest between 50 and 70 trucks of plantain every week.
Women, especially, are however quitting the occupation because of what has become the Fulani menace.
Some say they are almost always ambushed and the farm produce they carry on their heads for sale at the various markets is seized while others are raped.
But the Ashanti Regional Minister stated emphatically that they are working to nib the unfortunate incident in the bud.
As an immediate measure, he said the police will escort every farmer in the area to their farms to avert any clashes between them and the herdsmen.
Hon. Osei Mensah they have also intensified security in the area while they meet with cattle owners to find a lasting solution to the problem.
Ghana/Adomonline.com/Adwoa Gyasiwaa Agyeman
Farmers in Agogo to get police escorts – Minister
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