Mr Samuel Ofosu, the Atiwa East District Agriculture Director has called on the government and potential investors to partner the assembly to acquire modern rice milling facilities for rice farmers in the district.

This he said would help the farmers to expand their farms to increase production, increase their income to improve on their standard of living.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Anyinam in the Eastern Region, Mr Ofosu said the district lacked modern milling facilities to process harvested rice and this continued to be a major burden on the farmers.

He said rice is a major crop that was produced in Atiwa East District and the government planting for food and jobs (PFJ) programme and the introduction of the AGRA rice variety had helped rice farmers in the district to increase rice production.

Mr Ofosu said the AGRA rice had a potential of producing 2.7 tons of rice per acre and currently, farmers had planted about 1000 acres of rice and expecting a 27,000 tons of rice at the end of the harvest.

He said despite the challenges, the district recorded successes in the control of fall armyworm infestation by educating farmers on the fall army worm situation and they were assisted with chemicals to control them.

Mr Ofosu said the district successfully introduced three new disease resistant varieties of taro to about 100 farmers in the district to protect their farms.

He therefore expressed satisfaction at the rate of which the district agriculture department had improved in livestock farming and animal health through frequent trainings and education of farmers.