Central Region promises memorable Farmers Day

The Central Region is working feverishly to ensure it successfully hosts the 37th edition of the National Farmers Day celebration.

Addressing the Central Regional Coordinating Council (CRCC) meeting yesterday on preparations so far, the Regional Agricultural Engineer at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr Boffah Owusu Akyeaw, said they had made headway with preparations and he was hopeful the region would make a lasting impression with activities planned for the celebration.

Activities planned for the celebration will commence from November 29 to be climaxed with the awards ceremony on December 3, on the theme “Planting for Food and Jobs — Consolidating Food Systems in Ghana” in Cape Coast.

Mr Akyeaw said committees had been set up and tasked with various responsibilities of ensuring that all logistics needed for the weeklong activities were provided on time.

Activities

As part of activities to mark this year’s event, the CRCC has been organising clean-up exercises in Cape Coast on the first Friday of every month.

The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, said the exercises would be sustained and extended to various districts in the region to ensure a cleaner region.

She appealed to residents to participate in the exercise, saying a successful celebration would require the participation of the community, religious and youth groups.

She also requested the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to woo other corporate institutions to render financial and logistic support towards the celebration.

Apart from the main awards ceremony, other activities to mark the celebration include an agricultural fair, exhibition and regional focus, rice fair and an ADB Farmers’ Forum.

Farm market

Mr Akyeaw said the Department of Agriculture had also introduced an initiative dubbed the Farm Market, the first of its kind, to be included in the National Farmers Day celebration.

It will give consumers the exposure to fresh goods at affordable prices that hitherto were expensive.

The initiative is set to be implemented at the district level once every month with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“We have introduced an initiative called the Farm Market, which will allow farmers to engage with their consumers without any interference from the middleman that will allow the farmers to get the right price for their produce whiles consumers on the other hand too will get value for their money,” he stated.