Farmers' Day slated for Cape Coast on December 5

Accra, Aug. 12, GNA - This year's National Farmers Day would be held on Friday, December 5, at Cape Coast, the Central Regional Capital. The celebration, the 19th since its inception, would be held on the theme: " Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Through Improved Agribusiness" to emphasise the need for linkages among stakeholders to transform agriculture into a vibrant business activity at all its stages.

Mr Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives, launched the day in Accra on Tuesday.

He said Government's commitment and determination to make Ghana a leading agro-industrial country within a decade would succeed based on a vibrant private sector participation in agriculture as a commercial enterprise.

He said Government was a major player in agriculture prior to the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme policies and agricultural sector reforms, following which Government subsidized inputs and guaranteed prices for major staples.

Mr Kyerematen, said despite the positive aspect of those programmes, they failed to stimulate private sector involvement in agriculture on a commercial basis and left rural dwellers to engage in subsistence farming without considering it as a business.

He said operators in the agricultural sector could no longer count on direct State support, and urged them to negotiate their interest with Government and the private sector in a free market setting.

"If agriculture and related economic activities are handled in a businesslike manner, backed by appropriate technologies and economies of scale, Ghana, being an agro-based economy, would certainly be on the road to rapid growth and development."

Mr Kyerematen announced that under the Agricultural Sector Investment Project, Government, with the support of the World Bank had set aside five million dollars to provide capacity assistance to Farmer Based Organisations.

He said a number of facilities already existed for medium to large-scale enterprises. These he said included the Merchant Bank Business Loans Portfolio Guarantee Scheme; Agricultural Development Banks Performance Bond; Barclays Banks Co-operative Loan; ECOBANK's Medium Enterprise Loans and the Ghana Commercial Bank's Buyer Commercial Line for Capital Goods.

Mr Kyerematen stressed the need for effective collaboration among Government, private sector and civil society to address issues of the provision of technology, market access and capital.

He said he was expecting the establishment of a permanent desk to serve as an interface between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Finance and Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives to effectively pursue the development of strategies to tackle the problems of the agricultural sector.

Food and Agriculture Minister Major Courage Quashigah (rtd) said the Food and the Ministry had since last two years been pursuing a number of programmes to improve food production.

He said the Ministry had held workshops with its collaborators, including MOFA Directors, Researchers, Agro-industrialists, agribusiness people, financial institutions and development partners among others to develop business plans for selected activities.

Major Quashigah also out-doored a document, which the Ministry had prepared to address the problems of the agricultural sector. Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who chaired the ceremony, launched an appeal for donations towards the Farmers' Day.

He said agriculture accounted for 36 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product compared to the 16 per cent contribution of the financial institutions and insurance firms, and appealed to the media for a wider highlighting of the problems of agriculture.

Agricultural Development Bank, pledged to put up a three bedroom-furnished house at a location of the choice of the best farmer. The National Investment Bank would provide a double-cabin pick up vehicle for the runner up and Wienco Limited promised to bear the cost of publishing the anniversary brochure and other prizes in the form of farm fertilizer, all amounting to 110 million cedis.