Pepper farmers in Yorogo, a community in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region are currently in a state of worry because their crops have matured, and buyers are not coming for them.
According to the farmers, they invested a lot in the project and were hopeful that it would yield some dividends, but the current situation had their hopes dashed.
They spoke to GhanaWeb's Upper East Regional Correspondent, Sarah Dubure.
Mr. Paul Azaare, a farmer indicated that they had been harvesting their pepper for the past five weeks, with no buyers available.
"Now this is our pepper on our farms. We have harvested but no one is here to buy. For about some weeks now we have been harvesting without buyers. Sometimes we actually have nothing to do with it after the harvest. There is no one here who is even coming to ask about the pepper. It is actually a worrying situation for us," He said.
He lamented that they were encouraged to venture into the farming sector, meanwhile, there is a serious challenge when it comes to the purchase of the farm produce at the stage of maturity.
"We are being encouraged to enter into the farming sector yet when we enter into the farming, this is what we are facing," he noted.
He further indicated that they were running at a loss and might not farm next year since there was no market for their produce.
"We are actually running at a very greater loss and even next year, we don't think we can farm again because we have no one to sell our crops to," he added.
Mr. Azaare appealed to the government and NGOs to intervene by way of helping so that their pepper would not waste away.
A pepper farmer, Madam Nmabilla Atangombire, pointed out that they started the whole process about five months ago, with the hope that they would reap the fruits of their labour.
She said they are however scared, with the current situation they are seeing.
She indicated that the whole process is a very difficult one because she had to always be around and keep watch over the farm to ward off animals.
She further lamented that the situation had made it difficult for her to support her children anytime they are leaving for school.
She added that merely feeding them was an issue.
Another farmer, Mr. Amos Aboko, lamented that his pepper was getting rotten on the farm since he did not get people to buy.
"My pepper is now rotten. Since I started, l haven't gotten any customers. If you go to the farm now, all the peppers are now red," he elaborated.
Mr. Aboko further lamented that he incurred a lot of debt in the process.
According to him, he borrowed some money to help run the farm but has not been able to pay it back. He added that his debtors were strongly at his heels for him to pay back the money.
"I even borrowed some money to farm. The people have been attacking me and l don't have any money to pay back to them," he said.
He also added that he sold three cows and invested into the farming, and appealed for support by way of a remedy given to his situation, as he is confused.
