Celebrating Ghana’s Farmers: A story of neglect and disregard by government

As Ghana pauses to celebrate Farmer’s Day, let us take a moment to honour the resilience, strength, and dedication of our farmers.

These are the real MVPs who rise before dawn, work through scorching heat and pouring rain, and persist with tenacity, all to feed a nation. They cultivate Ghana’s rich lands, producing everything from cassava and yam to cocoa and maize.

They are the unsung heroes of our economy, holding the line on food security and even helping to shape Ghana’s identity on the international stage as a major exporter of cocoa and cashew.

Ghana’s agricultural sector contributes about 20% of the national GDP, and approximately 54% of the country’s workforce is engaged in agriculture. Food production in Ghana ensures not only local food security but also international trade needs, as the country’s cocoa, cashew, and oil palm products feed into global markets.

Cocoa alone accounts for nearly 15% of Ghana’s total exports, employing hundreds of thousands and bringing in over $2 billion annually. But beyond the numbers lies a deeper truth: without farmers, Ghana would be vastly a different place—
economically, socially, and culturally.

However, while the rest of the country celebrates today, many of these hardworking farmers are living a different reality. After eight years of promises from the NPP government, they remain largely forgotten, neglected, and overlooked. The administration that promised to empower farmers has instead left many in a worse position than before.

Farmers across the nation have faced rising costs of inputs, low quality and inadequate supply of inputs garnished with lack of Agro-technical support. For these forgotten farmers, this Farmer’s Day feels bittersweet and perhaps a little hollow.

Incidentally, to make matters worse the 40th anniversary Farmers Day celebration did not receive the usual recognition and the razzmatazz it comes with. Rather it turned out to be the worse celebration ever to be organized, as district and regional celebrations were suspended, and few government officials gathered in Accra at Alisa Hotel to meet potential awardees to celebrate what appears to be a grand failure of the agriculture sector.

How the celebration of farmers ended up in hotel still remains a mystery to farmers. In the run-up to the 2016 elections, the NPP made bold pledges to revitalize the agricultural sector, promising everything from financial assistance and subsidized inputs to mechanization and enhanced infrastructure.

Programs like the much-hyped “Planting for Food and Jobs” (PFJ) initiative promised to transform agriculture, to provide jobs, and to reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported food. But what was pitched as a comprehensive solution has turned out to be, in many ways, a half-hearted band-aid.

The programme suffered from inadequate planning, and limited reach Furthermore, another much-publicized NPP initiative, the “One Village, One Dam” policy, which was intended to provide a reliable and sustainable plant water supply, to support all year-round farming in Northern Ghana, became a hoax and a grand scam.

As countless frustrated farmers and the general populace can attest, these “dams” were often shallow pits that dried up by the middle of the dry season, offering little respite for communities in dire need of irrigation support. Some have become soccer playing fields for the youth. In a region where drought is a recurring threat, these failed dams represent not just a misstep in policy and a financial loss to the state, but more importantly a betrayal of the very communities that needed the support the most.

What is worse is the impact on rural farmers who live without access to even the most basic agricultural infrastructure. Roads to market remain unpaved and impassable during rainy seasons, resulting in massive post-harvest losses. Extension services that are vital to training farmers in best practices and new technology are woefully underfunded, leaving countless farmers without the support needed to increase yields sustainably.

In the face of these failures, farmers have continued to toil with courage. Despite rising cost of seeds, agro-chemicals and fertilizer coupled with lack of access to Agro-credits and inadequate storage facilities, the Ghanaian farmers remain resilient, unrelenting and resourceful. They continue to grow food, even when it seems the world has forgotten them. Their resilience is a testament to the Ghanaian spirit and culture that honours the land and its bounty, but same cannot be said of the Bawumia/Akufo Addo government, that has democratized state sponsored degradation of agricultural lands through galamsey.

But resilience alone is not enough. Ghana’s farmers need action, real, tangible support that goes beyond empty political promises. They need policies that work, leadership that listens, and accountable leadership at every level of government. If Ghana is to fulfill its agricultural potential and economic transformation agenda, we must first recognize the hardships our farmers endure and then enact reforms to truly empower them.

To make meaningful progress, we must start by reforming the very programs that have failed our farmers. First, any new agricultural policy must prioritize transparency and accountability, ensuring that funds and subsidies are directed properly and reach the farmers they are intended for. An independent oversight body like the Governance Advisory Council proposed by President John Dramani Mahama could monitor funds allocated to agricultural programmes, making sure
every cedi is accounted for.

Investment in irrigation infrastructure; true irrigation, not shallow dams is critical to ensuring farmers can cultivate all year-round. Similarly, enhanced extension services are essential; farmers need access to training, best practices, and sustainable farming techniques that increase yields without degrading the land.

In addition, access to finance must be improved, especially for young farmers and women. Micro-credits, low-interest credit facilities, and cooperative banking models could help provide the capital that smallholder farmers need.

Finally, building and maintaining rural roads should be a national priority, facilitating easier access to markets, reducing cost of food transport and reducing post-harvest losses.

Today, let us celebrate our farmers with reverence and gratitude. May this Farmer’s Day be more than just a calendar event; may it be a call to remember that our farmers are the very backbone of this nation. Here’s to the tillers of the land, the planters of seeds, and the keepers of Ghana’s future. May their fields be green, their harvests plentiful, and their burdens lightened.

As we honour our farmers, let us also acknowledge the failures that weigh them down and failure of the outgoing NPP Bawumia/Akufo Addo government. As Ghana goes to the polls to elect new leaders, it is time for the people to demand better leadership.

Let this Farmer’s Day be a rallying cry for change, a call for leadership that serves the people, honours the land, and uplifts the very hands that feed us. Our farmers deserve more than promises; they deserve progress, justice, and dignity.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

Authored by Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, Ch.FE
An NDC Spokesperson on Agriculture, Agricultural Economist, an Economics Lecturer, UPSA

The post Celebrating Ghana’s Farmers: A story of neglect and disregard by government first appeared on 3News.

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