Rice farmers at Gbedembilisi in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region are frustrated over the failure of a company to purchase their yields as agreed on earlier.

Over thousands of tons of rice were cultivated in the area this year.

The farmers claim to have an agreement with Farmerline Company Limited to purchase their produce when completed. The company provided sacks to the farmers for the rice to be bagged. After completion of the bagging, the company did not fulfill its promise as agreed, leaving the goods to get rotten.

Speaking to Metro TV, some of the farmers said they could not harvest their rice because they did not get funds to pay the combine harvester for its services, thereby leaving the rice to go waste at the farms.

The farmers are bemoaning the agony they are going through due to lack of buyers.

According to them, they invested heavily in ploughing, planting, fertilizer, weeding and cultivation so the company should have fulfilled its promise.

They appealed to the government to come to their aid and help sell their produce.

Led by the chief of the area, Nab Atirekpere Amalugsi Ignatius III, they are threatening to take a legal action against the company and also appealing to new buyers to come and purchase.

Meanwhile, Farmerline has refuted the farmers accusations, stating that the company has no contractual agreement with the farmers to purchase the rice.

The company in a statement said it was only helping the farmers find buyers and already Farmerline has purchased over 25,000 bags of rice paddy from farmers in the Builsa South and its environs this harvest season alone.

By: Ibrahim Abode | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana