Ayekoo to our hardworking farmers

Yesterday, a grateful nation recognised, acknowledged and rewarded its farmers and fishers across the country. December 3 each year is set aside as a public holiday to show farmers how grateful the nation is to them for ensuring that there is food on our dining tables at any given time.

From humble beginnings of token donations of Wellington boots, pieces of wax prints, radio sets and machetes as prizes for the National Best Farmer and Fisher, the prize regime has since evolved.

Yesterday, those selected as award winners smiled all the way home with prizes ranging from fertilisers, farm implements, powerful tractors, fishing trawlers, outboard motors, a pickup vehicle to a GH¢600,000 as the ultimate prize for the National Best Farmer and a two-bedroom house for the National Best Fisher at a location of his or her choice.

It is a fact that the awards typically do not measure up to the sacrifices and toils of farmers and fishers, but the essence is to recognise the importance of the agricultural sector in the socio-economic growth of Ghana. After all, farmers and fishers are our heroes and heroines who stand in for us under the scorching sun to feed us and therefore deserve the honour and recognition so bestowed on them.

Surely, the over 30 million Ghanaians and residents of the country are surviving, courtesy of the about 3.5 million people who have devoted their time, energy and resources, denying themselves of some of the niceties and luxury in the cities to be on their farmers, seas and rivers.

Apart from being the mainstay of the national economy, it is estimated that the agricultural sector, which is shouldered by our farmers, contributes about 54 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP); 40 per cent of its export earnings and employs more than 60 per cent of its workforce and also feeds millions of people directly.

The Daily Graphic joins the rest of Ghanaians to celebrate our farmers and wish them well as they go back to take stock and re-strategise for another farming season in 2022.

We also wish to commend the government for sustaining the award ceremony and creating the enabling environment for the private sector to virtually shoulder the entire prizes as part of their social responsibility efforts.

The Daily Graphic is aware of the efforts being made by the government such as the construction of warehouses, the Grain Development Bill soon to be placed before Parliament, the provision of improved seeds, the recruitment of extension officers and all the subsidy policies that come with the introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) in order to help assuage the plight of farmers in the country.

We will, however, wish to draw the attention of the government to the fact that these interventions are either too slow as the average farmer continues to suffer. Indeed, the post-harvest losses, unstable prices, deplorable roads in most farming communities, lack of insurance for farmers against natural disasters, high bank interest rates, among a litany of the concerns, are still the lot of farmers.

In spite of the bumper harvest and glut we are seeing since the implementation of the PFJ and the array of prizes displayed every year to honour the farmers, the truth is that unless some of these issues are resolved and with speed, they will continue to languish in poverty in the abundance of wealth.

So, as the farmers go back home to take stock of what they did and strategise for the next farming season, an aspect that will occupy their attention is the global shortage of fertiliser, which is causing so much panic even in the developed world as fertiliser producing companies continue to shut down their plants.

This is particularly of great concern as the development impacts directly on our agricultural sector because we depend entirely on the imported commodity.

The Daily Graphic suggests that the MoFA sets in motion a sensitisation plan to get the farmers to know the reality on the ground even before the next cropping season sets in.

We are happy that this government is focusing on strengthening the extension service unit of the ministry as well as resourcing the unit.

These officers can be deployed in the farming communities to engage with the farmers and also encourage them to patronise the use of improved seeds as against the traditional seeds and also to complement the little fertiliser they will be able to purchase with the organic fertiliser (manure).

So, as President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo decorates the National Best Farmer and Fisher, we say ayekoo to the award winners and congratulate all farmers because they are all winners in their own right.