Former President John Dramani Mahama says he made a mistake buying tractors for farmers during his tenure as President.
Given the chance again, he says he will rather buy the tractors, put them in the hands of someone who knows how to manage and provide the tractor services to farmers.
This, he said will ensure that a person with the know how will maintain tractors for longetivity.
He said the tractors his government purchased for farmers broke down in a short period because they were not properly maintained.
“I realised that some of the things that we ourselves [did, we ]made mistakes with [them].
“We imported tractors and agricultural equipment, we gave them to farmers.”
“The farmer does not need the tractor, he does not need the agricultural equipment, he needs the services of a tractor.
“So somebody who knows how to maintain that tractor must have a service centre, where he provides the services to the farmer.”
“But we gave the tractors to the farmers, in a year or two the tractor had broken down because he [farmer] doesn’t know every six months you must change the engine oil, you must change the filters, you must grease the tractor, he [farmer] doesn’t know that.
“So we will approach it differently,” the former President said.