MOFA to reduce number of awards for 2022 Farmers’ Day, donations are low

Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, a Deputy Minister of Agricultural, says government will reduce the number of awards for this year’s National Farmers Day celebration.

He said that had become necessary due to the economic challenges facing the country.

Speaking on the side-lines of a donation by two private sector institutions towards the annual celebration, Mr Addo, who is in charge of crops at the Ministry, said donations towards this year’s celebration had been on “low”.

He lamented that with about two weeks to the celebration, only two private sector institutions had made donations to support the awards.

“…Last year by this time, we had crossed this stage and getting ready for the event,” the Deputy Minister noted, and appealed to corporates to donate towards the celebration of farmers.

He received cheques totalling GHC45,000 and some farm inputs from the New Okaff Limited and Yara Ghana and hopeful the donation would motivate others to do same.

New Okaff Limited presented agricultural inputs worth GHC75,000 and a cheque for GHC20,000 while Yara Ghana presented 25 bags of fertiliser valued at GHC25,000 and a cheque for GHC25,000.

The national event will take place in Koforidua in the Eastern Region on December 2, 2022, on the theme: “Accelerating Agricultural Development through value addition”.

Presenting the items, the Commercial Director of New Okaff Limited, Mr Kwesi Boama Adomako, stated that the Company saw the donation as an obligation in helping to honour hardworking farmers, who he described as the backbone of the national economy.

He said the Company had been supporting the annual event since 2017 and was proud to be associated with the National Farmers’ Day celebration.

Mr Theophilus Djorbuah, the Commercial Director at Yara Ghana, said the donation formed parts of the Company’s core mandate to support agriculture.

“It is also to encourage more people to venture into agriculture and to increase the sector’s productivity,” he said.

The National Farmers’ Day celebration was introduced by the Provisional National Defence Council government (PNDC) in 1985 to acknowledge the role farmers and fisher folks play in national development.

The prize for the first best farmer comprised two machetes, a pair of wellington boots and a preset radio at a national durbar held at Osino in the Eastern Region in 1985.

Source: newsghana.com.gh