To boost food sufficiency in the country, members of parliament have to be surcharged to go into commercial farming, a former Member of Parliament has said..Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Pangabu, the former Member of Parliament for Ejura Sekyeredumase Constituency, in the Ashanti region, and also the Managing Director of PEE farms, has admonished the need for parliamentarians to go into commercial farming in order to fight the threat of food crisis facing nation.
The fomer MP currently owns a 1000 acre of maize plantation, 600 acres of which is located at Ejura and the remaining 400 acres situated at Atebubu and Nkronsah, all in the Brong Ahafo region.
As a seed producer, he produces variety of maize seeds including ‘Abotem’ and ‘Mamaba.’ He said the yields from these variety positions him to be able to feed the two regions and the rest of the country in the coming months.
Ashanti region this year experienced a fall in maize production for local consumption due to climate change and erratic rainfall.
Speaking exclusively to GARDJA, Alhaji Pangabu, opined that, commercial farming is more lucrative venture than Parliamentary work, and comes with less responsibility and pressure from the society.
‘I have quite active politics and I think it will be prudent for me to focus more on commercial farming,’ he said.
He said he could employ the leadership of parliament and pay them twice their salaries as parliamentarians in the years ahead from the proceeds from his farm work.
The time is due to explore other avenue in the farming business, all the billionaires in America are purely commercial farmers, why can’t we follow suit to feed the country, he quizzed.
