TANO SOUTH DISTRICT HOLDS FARMERS’ DAY AT TECHIMANTIA

The Tano South District’s version of the 31^st edition of the farmers’ day celebration has been held at Techimantia.

The celebration which drew people from all parts of the district was a delight to watch and in attendance were the District Chief Executive,  Nananom, the Clergy, Heads of Departments and Assembly Members.

Welcoming the people gathered at the function, the Tano South District Director of Agriculture, Mr. Dwamena  Godfred  said, he was highly privileged to welcome all to the memorable occasion and mentioned that the main purpose of the day’s  gathering was to say ‘’Ayekoo’’ to our gallant farmers who through their sweat and toil have been able to produce enough to feed the nation.

Mr. Dwamena said, this year’s theme for the celebration ‘’TRANSFORM GHANA, INVEST IN AGRICULTURE’’ is a call for more investment in the agricultural sector to transform the country’s rural economies and halt rural-urban migration. He said the agricultural sector as a tool for transformation could be effected on the national economy through the activities of the private sector.

Mr. Dwamena said, the rainfall pattern for this year has been erratic drastically, thus, affecting production output and called on farmers to seek technical advice on timeliness, drought, resistant crop in their production. He said the agricultural department was able to carry out a number of demonstrations sponsored by the West African Agriculture Productivity Programme (WAAPP) in Maize, Cassava, Rice, Cocoyam, Taro and Vegetables throughout the District as learning plots for farmers.

Mr. Dwamena said, MOFA and Plant-Wise carried out education on control of diseases and pests  problems in the District, and the District was lucky to avoid bird flu in poultry as the veterinary staff with the assistance of AEA’s were able to monitor the bird flu outbreak as directed by MOFA.

Mr. Dwamena said,  21 gallant farmers and fishers are being awarded this year in the District and thanked the Tano South District Assembly, especially the District Chief Executive and his management team for providing funds for the occasion.

In an address, the Tano South Disrtict Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari  Zakari  Anaba said, the celebration was the climax of a hectic process to honour our gallant farmers and fishers for their meritorious contributions to the achievements of Ghana Shared Growth and development Agenda II and used the occasion to welcome all present at the gathering.

Hon. Anaba said, in keeping with the aim of advancing GSGDA II which has the principal objective of achieving food security and nutrition, government has continued to put in place critical interventions in a logical manner to modern agriculture to attract more people into the sector for accelerated growth especially the youth.

He said,  indeed, through the collaboration between government and our farmers, the agricultural sector has been able to feed the people within the District and also export surpluses of the produce to other parts of the country and beyond to earn some income.

Hon. Anaba said, as the theme for this year’s celebration, agriculture as a tool for transformation of the national economy can be accelerated through increase investment and provide sector participation and said the theme for the 31^st farmers Day celebration is a clarion call on all of us to take advantage of the abundant fertile lands and generous policy interventions by government such as provision of free inputs to farmers to also invest in agriculture to increase output for the country to achieve the cardinal objective of the government by making Ghana self-sufficient in food production.

Hon. Anaba said, the department of Agriculture in collaboration with Crop Research Institute (CRI) embarked on a cocoyam planting material multiplication demonstration using new varieties that have been developed by (CRI) to increase yield. He said the two institutions have also collaborated to introduce new varieties of Taro to the District to access its resistance to the disease that has wiped off almost all the Taro crops that used to exist in the district. He said the government through the COCOBOD distributed 600,000 free cocoa seedlings and other inputs to cocoa farmers in the District and few communities in the district that falls within the coverage area of COCOBOD to increase cocoa production of the country.

Hon. Anaba hinted that, beginning next year farming season, COCOBOD will distribute 650,000 seedlings to farmers in Bechem  Zone of the district, 250,000 to Techimantia  Zone and 200,000 to Derma zone to further increase cocoa production in the district and the country at large and said Tano South alone will benefit 1,100,000 free cocoa seedlings.

Hon. Anaba said, the government in its quest to improving transportation of agriculture products from the district to market centres is currently constructing Techimantia-Akomandan road and has awarded contracts for the construction of 10km Derma-Asuoso road and 15km Techimantia-Derma road and was of the conviction that government will continue to explore all necessary means possible to support farmers in all areas to make farming attractive to the young men and women.

Hon. Anaba retaliated, that the agricultural sector is the one when a lot of investments and energies by individuals are channelled, will help create employment to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and stabilize the local currency to improve standard of living of the people as the sector continues to be the key to the advancement of the country’s economy, since the sector employs over 50% of the active labour force and accounts for about 30% of the total foreign exchange earnings of the country.

Hon. Anaba congratulated and welcomed the award winners and said he was of the view that their colleague farmers will take inspiration from their achievements to do more so that they would also be recognised in future celebrations.

In a speech, Mr. Ayammah Mathew, who received the overall best farmer award thanked  the government for its initiative in the farmers’ day celebration and appealed to all farmers to invest their resources in the agricultural sector to enable them acquire more money to meet their demands and that of the Country.

Nana Ampong Kromantan II, the Krontihene of Techimantia, who chaired the function in his remarks describes farming as a tedious work and appealed to the government to introduce policies which will make the sector attractive for all manner of people and congratulated successive governments for  carrying out the farmers’ day celebration.

Nana Kromantan II congratulates the award winners and advised them not to rest on their oars after the celebration but to strive to produce more. He called on the District Assembly to ensure that all roads leading to farming areas in the district are well maintained and made motorable for easy transportation of farm products to the urban centres.

Nana Kromantan II said, since farmers contribute to the nations’ development, government should ensure that farmers are given the necessary training, inputs and chemicals to boost their production and yield.