Farmers Day is preceded by an agricultural celebration.

Accra is hosting a five-day agriculture festival to commemorate this year’s National Farmers Day.

The event, dubbed “AGRIFEST 2023,” is being held within the Ministries enclave and will display various agricultural products and equipment.

Dr. Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Agriculture, and Mavis Hawa Koomson, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, cut the ribbon to kick off the event yesterday.

Participants

AGRIFEST 2023 will feature 145 enterprises and organizations in total.

They are involved in agrochemicals, machinery and equipment sales, and input sales.

Other stakeholders include development partners and financial institutions.

Plant seedlings, farm produce such as yam, tomatoes, maize, local rice, plantains, bananas, animals, cocoa products, diverse plants and tractors, weeding, and irrigation equipment are all on exhibit.

The exhibitors are placed on the main road leading from the Ghanaian-European Centre adjacent to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to the old Ministry of Health via the Ministry’s traffic signals on the street by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.

Dr. Acheampong opened the ceremony by stating that the government had developed a strategy for the country to be food self-sufficient by 2028.

Food safety

“We believe that the trajectory we have embarked on will make our food secure and resilient by 2028,” he said of the five-year food security strategy.

Dr. Acheampong stated that the effort could only be accomplished with the help of farmers and that “if we commit to December 1 and the days before that to honor our farmers, then we are on the right track.”

The minister said to achieve food security, there were a lot of actors that would help the country in that regard.

He named them as the input dealers, aggregators, farmers themselves, regional and district agriculture officers, the Fisheries Commission, fisheries departments across the country and other stakeholders.

Showcase
“So it is important that we commit the week to showcase the tools that they tend to employ for us to meet our food security target by 2028,” Dr Acheampong stated.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture also said AGRIFEST was part of the awareness that the ministry wanted to create so that all Ghanaians would come on board to ensure that “we march the journey together as Ghanaians for our food security and resilience”.

Dr Acheampong expressed the hope that with the support of farmers and other stakeholders, the government would achieve its objectives.

Time to celebrate farmers
For her part, Mrs Koomson said it was necessary to honour the country’s farmers and fishers because but for them there would be no food for the citizenry.

“So, when it is time for us to celebrate them, let us all do it together in a grand style,” she entreated.

This year’s National Farmers Day, slated for Friday, December 1, 2023, among others, aims at rewarding farmers of the country for their hard work.

The 2023 event, which would be the 39th edition, would be held in Tarkwa in the Western Region on the theme: “Delivering Smart Solutions for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience”.

Categories

This year, farmers will be recognized in 15 categories at the national awards in Tarkwa.

These are the Overall National Best Farmer, the first and second runners-up, the National Best Farmers, and 12 others, including the National Best Livestock Farmer, the National Best Female Farmer, the National Best Physically Challenged Farmer, the Overall National Best Fisher, the National Best Marine Fisher, and the National Best Inland Fisher.

The rest are the National Best Fish Farmer, the National Best Fish Processor, the National Best Cocoa Farmer, the National Best Most Promising Young Cocoa Farmer, the National Best Most Enterprising Cocoa, the Female Farmer, and the National Best Shea Nut Picker.

Regional/district levels
There would be five regional award categories per region.

They are the Regional Best Farmer, the Regional Best Livestock Farmer, the Regional Best Female Farmer, the Regional Best Fisher, and the Regional Physically Challenged Farmer.

The district-level celebrations are expected to be held in the 261 districts, and each district would have three categories, namely the District Best Farmer, the District Best Livestock Farmer, and the District Best Crop Farmer.

About Author