Ayekoo to our gallant farmers and fishermen

Once again our gallant farmers have provided food, meat and fish for us all year round and we did not experience famine or hunger at any point.

ediWe, therefore, believe that this is the time to say congratulations to all the tillers of the land, breeders of livestock and fish farmers who have always made sure we have food on our table. 

The Daily Graphic especially says ‘ayekoo’ to all those who are winning awards at the national, regional and district levels today, but we say they must not rest on their laurels but aspire to even do better next year.

To those who have not been selected for any awards, we tell them that it does not mean that they did badly – it only suggests that they need to put in more effort in their chosen vocation.

While we reward our farmers and fishermen today with various prizes, we feel the day also affords us the opportunity to reflect on how the nation’s agriculture has fared. 

Generally, the growth rate in the agriculture sector this year has been both slow and low at 4.1 per cent. To hasten growth in the sector, we need to make our rural communities the growth pole.

We need to open up the villages to make them attractive to the youth by providing basic amenities such as good schools, roads and hospitals and establishing businesses to stem the rapidly increasing rate of rural-urban drift.

There is also no more joy in doing agriculture and the youth have virtually left farming to the aged. What the aging farming workforce bodes for the country is that a time will come when we will not have people working in the agriculture sector.

This will happen soon if the rural communities are not made an attractive option for the youth for them to engage in various agricultural ventures. 

Unfortunately, although the youth in the rural communities yearn for modern technology such as mobile phones, tablets, flat screen television sets and the like, they cannot get them when they stay in the villages, hence the burning desire to get to the urban centres at all cost.  

We believe, however, that all that could be changed with the provision of the basic amenities which make life less stressful, such as good drinking water, consistent electricity, entertainment centres and industries to process farm produce. 

We know that some of the National Farmers Day award winners will receive tractors as their prizes, but we are of the view that as a country we must make a conscious effort to move from subsistence farming to mechanised and large-scale farming on properly irrigated lands.

The Daily Graphic believes that if we make the needed investments in agriculture, the youth in our rural communities will stop seeing trips to Accra or any regional capital as the only way to make ends meet or fulfil their hearts’ desires.

Ayekoo to all award-winning farmers and fishermen!