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Doom Day For Ghanaian Farmers

By Bamie Tahir-Ahmed
Opinion Doom Day For Ghanaian Farmers
JUL 19, 2017 LISTEN

The fall of the army worm invasion is causing havoc on the farms of our poor farmers as they helplessly and worriedly look on.

Not so long after the government launched the planting for food and jobs policy did this disaster hit our dear nation. It makes me wonder in my mind why this is happening at the time when government's focus is on increasing agricultural productivity to boost our economy as majority of the Ghanaian populace is fundamentally engaged in farming.

But what immediate measures are the Ministers of Agriculture putting in place to conquer this predicament? The president has appointed five ministers to the Agric Ministry to help his government deliver on its mandate but their sluggishness in rapidly combating this disaster dares me to use the most popular word used by politicians to describe the performance of their political rivals- "incompetent" on them.

Recently the agriculture minister became furious when this word was used on him but it is fast becoming evident that he is truly so.

If these ministers cannot collaborate with NADMO to within a matter of urgency fight the army worm disaster, then it makes me wonder if these were the men the president spoke about while in opposition.

I thought this was one of the reasons why the new government opted to use experienced men to salvage us from our predicaments rather than 'babies with with sharp teeth' whose arrogance as ministers under the Mahama administration cost the NDC their electoral defeat.

However, I'm beginning to see these experienced ministers are men with blunt teeth who travel overseas at the expense of our taxes while over 120,000 hectares of farm lands have been invaded by army worm across the country.

Currently as I write this article the agriculture minister is in Brazil for reasons best known to him.

We were recently in Wa West District, one of the most deprived districts in the Upper West Region, whose population is predominantly farmers. The situation is not different from other seriously affected districts as farmers wept in cold pain- losing their livelihoods to these worms.

The government's flagship policy of "planting for food and jobs" received an overwhelming endorsement from many farmers who were expectant of the enormous benefits they may accrue from the policy to improve their crop yield and expand their scope of farming,given the hype to the policy by the Ghanaian media. Many of the farmers, felt the second coming of Christ in their heart but when it commenced in June this year, their disappointments were became manifest. Why? The policy in practice, only provided seeds of maize, rice, and soya beans and fertilizers to the farmers.

The expectations were far beyond just seeds and fertilize, not even tractor services were provided to plough the lands.

That aside, the least said about extension extension services, the better. How would we deploy six extension officers to each district and expect dried results?

I would like to quote from a great philosopher, John Maxwell who once said"A leader who leads without followers is mere taking a walk". And in the president's inaugural speech, he said " I urge you to be citizens, not spectators citizens, not subjects". Draw your own conclusion!

Bamie Tahir-Ahmed
Wa

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