Mr. Bright Katamani completed Senior Secondary school some years ago and when he realized his parents had little funds to further his education as at the age of twenty-five (25) years, decided to pursue farming as a career and has since not regretted the decision he took.
The 30-year-old farmer who is currently married with a child says he is making strides with his 2-acre cassava, 3-acre maize, and half-acre sweet potato farms. Though he might need support or funds to further expand his business, what he earns currently is able to take care of his immediate nuclear family and also support his extended family when the need arises.
Mr. Katamani who hails from Adukrom Bepoase in the Eastern Region grew up with both parents as farmers. “My father and mother were all farmers and that is how come I had the experience to do farming, some of my siblings are also farmers now. I did not succumb to the financial difficulties after school but decided to go into farming to make a living.” He said.
According to the smallholder farmer, farming is not as bad as most young people see it to be. He stated that though it was not easy from the beginning, he was able to pick up after a year or two.
“It is a good venture and I will urge all especially the youth not to be scared to go into farming. If you work hard, you will definitely not go hungry and can cater for your family. When you start little, it will grow and the fact that some of our parents were seen as not successful in the business does not mean the youth of today cannot make it in farming.” He stressed.
His challenges
In his words, “The cassava farm has no much challenge, the only difficulty is your ability to weed, sow and spray. The issue with the maize farm has to do with getting the right fertilizer, without the right fertilizer and right application; you will not harvest much yield. The sweet potato farm requires a lot of work and if you do not have enough workers (both skilled and unskilled laborers), you cannot do it on a large scale. That is why I am doing only half acre.”
Mr. Katamani says he realized there is a huge potential in the Potato farm he just started in addition to his cassava and maize farm and wish he had enough funds to expand it further to earn more.
He is currently looking up to benefit from the distribution of fertilizers under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) project by the government to help boost his business. He also called on the government to support the smallholder farmers to make it big.
Story by: Linda Dede Nyanya Godji
