ADB pledges GH¢1m for Farmers’ Day celebration

The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) PLC has donated GH¢1,000,000 towards the celebration of the 39th Farmers Day.

The national event, which is organised annually to recognise and reward outstanding and hardworking farmers and fishers across the country, will be held on Friday, December 1, 2023, in the Western Region. 

It will be on the theme: "Delivering smart solutions for sustainable food security and resilience".

Commitment

The Deputy Managing Director of the bank, Eno Ofori-Atta, who made the presentation in Accra yesterday, said her outfit’s sponsorship of the 2023 National Best Farmer event was a rededication of their commitment to invest in the sector to improve food security, provide raw materials to agro-based industries and create employment to the teeming youth in the country.

“We look forward to making the pledged amount available to this year’s best farmer to invest in the farming business in areas that would reduce drudgery and make farming more attractive,” she added. 

Ms Ofori-Atta, also, said ADB was privileged to solely sponsor a Farmers’ Forum, which forms part of the celebrations to bring farmers, fishers and agricultural experts together to brainstorm on best practices to ensure sustainable and profitable agriculture. 

“Congratulations in advance to all 2023 award winners and well done to the ministries of Food and Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture Development for the organisation of the programme. “Together, let us work to change the face of the nation's agriculture,” she said. 

Appreciation 

A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, said the support for this year’s celebration of farmers was not encouraging and, therefore, expressed appreciation to ADB for paving the way.

“As has been the case every year, ADB opens the floodgates. We write to a lot of people but custom demands that it is ADB that should open the floodgates, so this year’s little delay is not from them but rather some organisational challenges that we faced,” he explained.

Mr Frimpong said they had added some innovations to this year’s celebration which included a five-day exhibition to be held in Accra from November 27, 2023 to December 1, 2023.

This would allow interested farmers across the country and other actors in the agricultural and fisheries sectors to showcase their produce and wares before the climax of the celebration on December 1, 2023, in Tarkwa in the Western Region. 

“It’s going to start from the Ridge roundabout through the national Theatre to the traffic lights at the Ministries Police Station, down to the stadium road through the Ministry of Employment and to the Kempinski road,” he said.