House Marks 36th Edition of the National Famers' Day Celebration
02-11-2020The celebration of the 36th edition of the National Famers’ Day slated for Techiman the Bono East Regional capital on Friday, 6th November at Techiman, will not only afford the people of the infant region the rare opportunity to enjoy the benefits of their new status as an administrative region but is also expected to honour farmers whose efforts have
This year’s event to be held under the theme ‘ensuring agribusiness development under Covid-19: opportunities and challenges’ will be marked by a week-long Agriculture Fair to provide a platform for interactions among farmers and stakeholders on improving agribusiness along the value chain.
The upcoming general elections, which necessitated the altering of the date from the first Friday of December as dictated by law to November, and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to public health and safety necessitating the imposition of restrictions and the movement of people and enforcement of other protocols, raised questions about the feasibility of organizing the year’s celebrations.
However Government, determined to honour the gallant farmers and fisher folk as a national gesture of appreciation for their role in national development and the likely adverse effect on their motivation should the event be cancelled, proceeded to organize the event with all the attendant risk after extensive consultations.
These disclosures were made in a statement delivered in Parliament to mark this year’s Farmer’s Day celebration, the 36th edition, by the Minister for Agriculture Hon. (Dr.) Owusu Afriyie Akoto who further pledged Government’s unalloyed support for the sector.
He announced that the 36th edition of the Farmers’ Day celebration will place emphasis and value on all agribusiness activities such as transportation, marketing, distribution, processing and storage while lamenting that Agriculture in Ghana had over the years functioned as a mere subsistence activity, with few professionals focusing on value addition
The Minister said government has over the last three years, been engaged in an agricultural modernization programme under which it has rolled out its flagship programme Planting for Food and Jobs to ensure that the country’s food security is firmly intact which has largely accounted for the country’s food security and ability to effectively manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chairman of Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, Kwame Asafu-Adjei who is also the Member Parliament of (MP) for Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo in Ashanti Region contributing to the statement indicated that there is strong justification for Farmers’ Day to be celebrated every year because it has helped boost the growth of the Agriculture sector.
The Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo Constituency MP noted that government will continue to put in place flexible programs that will enable the farmers access loan for enhance their food production and added that government’s pension scheme for farmers and fishermen will encourage more youth to engage in farming.
He said the Government’s, Planting for Food and Agriculture flagship programme has come at an opportune time to create more jobs and encourage more youth to take up farming and to saluted gallant farmers as the nation marks Farmers Day today.
National Farmers Day in Ghana is celebrated on the first Friday of December each year to recognise the contributions of farmers and fishers in the country and is designed to pay respect to the importance of the farming and fishing industry in the socio-economic growth of Ghana.
The Day was instituted in 1985 by then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government after the industries showed a 30 percent growth in 1984 which was a significant improvement over 1982 and 1983 years when the country suffered a severe drought.
Activities on Farmers Day include a National Farmers Forum with Award Winners expected to network with country leaders and experts on subjects including technological advances in agriculture as well as suggestions for how the leaders of Ghana can help improve the industry.
There is also an exhibition sponsored by various individuals and organisations that demonstrate developments in the industries designed to generate more interest in technology in order to further modernise the landscape of the industry in Ghana.
The celebration is actually a week long with regional and district celebrations throughout the country and very extensive since much of Ghana’s economy is related to agriculture while the main celebration is held in an area of the country most affected by harvest conditions that may include drought or flooding while the first Farmers Day was celebrated in Osino, located in the where the drought was most severe.
Awards given during the celebration are for such categories as husbandry practices, ecology, use of technology and contributions to the national economy.
The prize package on the first holiday included two machetes, a pair of Wellington boots and a preset radio and since that time, the prizes have grown more valuable and included bicycles, power tillers, tractors and pick-ups and in 2002 when the winning farmer received a three-bedroom house, that has been the prize in years since.
