The 36th National Farmers’ Day Celebration themed “Ensuring Agribusiness Development under COVID-19 – Opportunities and Challenges” has begun at the Methodist Park, Techiman in the Bono East Region and it is expected to end on November 6, 2020.
New to the historic celebration, which began 36 years ago, is the regional focus days where the 16 regions of the country will display their cultural heritage and agricultural potential. The 2020 edition of the National Farmers’ Day (a 5-days event) began on November 2, 2020 with an official opening of the agricultural fair and regional focus days by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia after which the host region, Bono East led the agricultural exhibition, followed by the Eastern, Northern, Bono and Western Region.
The Upper West, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Oti, Western and Savanna Region take their turn in exhibiting their agricultural potential on November 3, 2020, the second day of the celebration whereas the four remaining regions, namely Upper East, North East, Ahafo, Central and Volta Region, will do same on third day of the celebration.
The fourth day of the celebration christened ‘ADB Farmers Forum’ is meant for the management and staff of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to interact with the farmers and attend to their issues. The bank will also educate the farmers on some of its latest innovative services and the digital platforms available. Award winners will then rehearse and be taken through the programme for the climax, that is the awards day on the fifth day, which will be marked with a grand durbar and the awards ceremony. The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is expected to be the guest of honour to crown the National Best Farmer 2020.
Donations Made to Support the Celebration
Agricultural companies have made donations to support the 2020 edition of the National Farmers’ day. Ghana’s pioneer agro-inputs company, Chemico Limited, has supported this year’s Farmers’ Day celebration with over GH¢400,000. The company has handed over a cheque of GH¢100,000 to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and has also presented a cash amount and agrochemical products valued at over GH¢300,000 to some Regional, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Directorates of the Ministry toward their local celebration of the 36th Farmers’ Day in Ghana.
The Business Development Manager of Chemico Ltd, Mr. Gregory Amprofi, who handed over the donation on behalf of the company, said that Chemico Ltd. has over the years supported the ministry to reward deserving farmers since the inception of the Farmers’ Day celebration to motivate farmers to put up their best to increase productivity.
“As a pioneer agro-inputs company, we are happy to complement the Ministry’s efforts in providing incentives to our gallant farmers who are the country’s major food production agents”, Mr. Gregory Amprofi said.
The Minister of State in charge of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Nurah Gyeile who was present to receive the donation on behalf of the Ministry and the National Farmers’ Day Planning Committee, commended Chemico Ltd. for its annual donations toward the Farmers’ Day celebrations. He particularly praised Chemico Ltd for annually extending their support to some Regional, Metropolitan, Municipal and District directorates of the ministry toward their local celebrations.
The Director of Sales and Marketing of Chemico Ltd., Mr. Prince Agyemang Yeboah, wished farmers a happy Farmers’ Day celebration and expressed optimistically that their efforts will spur agribusiness development amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as captured under this year’s theme for the celebration.
“Our gallant farmers are at the centre of Chemico’s operations. We work with them in the supply of quality agro-chemicals & fertilizer products to boost productivity. So, we are here to celebrate with them,” he said, and assured that Chemico Ltd. will continue offering quality products to promote Agriculture.
Kingdom Exim Ghana Limited also made a donation to support the years’ edition of the National Farmers’ Day celebration. The items donated included a cheque for a sum of GH¢10,000, some tricycles as well as a generous number of blowers, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Mr. Peter Mensah, partner at Kingdom Exim Group and District Chief Executive (DCE) for Techiman North, who made the presentation alongside CEO and Managing Director of the Group, Rajamani James and Rajamani Immanuel revealed that the donation was towards the tree-crop category of the award ceremony and expressed the group’s intention to continue to provide support for that category, even as it seeks to expand future contributions to other categories.
The General Executive Manager of Kingdom Exim Group, Ms. Iftin Arthur-Afari, revealed in an interview with B&FT that her outfit was particularly encouraged by government’s attention to tree crops particularly cashew, oil palm, shea, coconut, mango and rubber, as evidenced by the impending establishment of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA).
Ms. Arthur-Afari added that having supported farmers in diverse ways, recent recognitions – including receiving the Presidential Award at the Ghana Shippers Award for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2019, among others – have made it expedient to expand their scope of support by partnering with MoFA.
“We believe that by partnering with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the ministry will be able to assist us with identifying and providing adequate support for farmers to boost their yield for local consumption and for export; thereby increasing the foreign exchange that will come into the country’s coffers,” she said.
Receiving the items, the Minister of State in Charge of Food and Agriculture who doubles as Chairman of the planning committee for this year’s celebration, Dr. Nurah Gyiele, expressed delight with the gesture by Kingdom Exim.
