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18.11.2014 Feature Article

Farmers' Day Should Award Agric Innovations

Farmers' Day Should Award Agric Innovations
18.11.2014 LISTEN

In less than a month from now, Ghana will once again be celebrating a Farmers Day for successful ones to be awarded mouth-watering prizes. As considerate as the initiators and successive governments have been in honoring Ghanaian farmers for feeding the nation, it is about time the award was redirected towards solving a bigger problem still in agriculture.

The need that will have a better impact on the farmers and consumers of agricultural produce now is for Ghanaians to have enhanced preservation systems to stretch the lifespan of our agricultural produce. This will benefit the farmer, the consumer, the nation, and the Global Village at large; I even dare say even the Creator will smile for this, because apart from making economic sense it will help preserve nature.

The wastage in Ghana's agric sector is further worsened by the accelerated perishability of our staple crops and meat owing to our hot tropical climate. Processing for preservation of our foodcrops is another way way out; however the startup costs, research etc are relatively exhorbitant, risky, and unattractive for solo unsupported investment.

This is where the social funding will come handy so that others can adopt findings to build on for further research and inventions. The annual contributions from donors for the farmer's prizes could be converted to support this; because the successful private farmers are obviously adequately rewarded through revenue from the sales of their produce!

By extension all such celebration and awarding of successful professionals should be done as the fashionable side of work; the essential and developmental side as research and inventions have to be given priority, especially in a developing economy like ours. As an Akan proverb puts it "Yeye nea ehia wie ansa na yeaye nea efata." Long live farmers and all patriotic hardworking citizens of Ghana!

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