National best maize farmer for 2019 Mr John Dimah lost 31 acres of his maize field to fire in the SISSALA West District of the upper west region.
According to Mr Dimah,who spoke to RadfordFM said a total of 31 acres was burnt whilst he was attending a funeral in kusali his hometown but the cause of fire is yet to be identified.
He further revealed that 21 acreage had been harvested whilst 10 other acres were to be harvested before the 2nd January 2019 destruction.He adds that an acre gives an average of 35 to 40 kilograms of the mini bags which results an initial loss of 1,147 mini bags of maize, thats conservative figures.
Checks by RadfordFM indicates that fire outbreaks has led to loss of farm produce resulting in huge loss of investment by mostly maize farmers whose large farm size affects harvesting.
RadfordFM Yaya Bayi is checking with the fire service in Tumu to find out how many farms have been destroyed by bushfires from December 2019 to date. Checking from the fire service office in Tumu 9 bush fires have been recorded between 1st December to 25th December 2019 .
Is mostly a heap of maize or a whole farm’, the department added.
By: Radford FM