I congratulate the 2014 National Best Farmer, Mr George Asamoah-Amankwah, and all the other prizewinners, but I can’t help feeling once again that it is time to have a radical review of the format of the celebration, especially the awards.
The Farmers Day observance has been going on for 30 years, and therefore it’s not surprising if it needs a new breath of life.
The incredible news that this year toilet rolls were part of a prize package in the Eastern Region surely underscores the need for a rethink.
Toilet roll as a prize! And not, say, a year’s , or even six months supply from the factory, but a shocking, insulting, THREE (or was it TWO?) ROLLS as a reward for a farmer’s toil during the year! Whose idea was that? What about cultural sensitivity? How could the regional organising committee and the Ministry of Agriculture find that acceptable?
Some people might think the suggestion of a review coming just one week after the celebration is too early. For, understandably, the organisers are possibly still recovering from their hard work culminating in the December 5 event at Sefwi Wiawso, Western Region. However, I think this is the right time to begin a discussion in the hope of attracting the attention of the organising committee as they jot down their notes for a review meeting.
I am of course assuming that after holding such a big national ceremony the sector ministry and the organising committees will be meeting to assess its successes and shortcomings so that these can be factored into the next one. I’m also taking it for granted that such a review will take place almost immediately, while the details are still fresh in people’s minds.
I’m aware that the main prizes have improved to magnificent levels since the early days, but I think that the present award system could be vastly improved. It seems to favour the big time farmers more than small and peasant farmers.
Also, I think the idea of holding a nationwide, simultaneous observance needs to be replaced with a staggered one: district, then regional and finally national.
As the ceremony is to honour all the country’s farmers, it needs to be reorganised to give due recognition to deserving farmers everywhere and I believe that this would be more effectively achieved through a series of Days. The grand finale could still take place on the first Friday of December and would still be a national holiday.
As I suggested on another platform some years ago, another benefit of a staggered arrangement would be that at the various levels, local dignitaries, Ministers and Members of Parliament would all be able to play meaningful roles in their local celebration.
Equally importantly, the whole farming community and the general public would be in a better position to appreciate fully the national ceremony.
Furthermore, a three-tiered observance would provide an opportunity to give recognition to many more award winners in the media. Under the present system, regrettably, district and regional winners tend to be overshadowed by the national prize-winners; many amazing stories are left untold.
As indicated earlier, in my view the current prize system is not fair. The big farmers who win the top titles are rewarded with impressive prizes such as a house, car and tractors, which by their status they themselves can afford many times over.
Do the big farmers really need such incentives from the government? My argument is that the scale of their farming activities is already a pointer that farming for them is a business they have chosen and they’re already doing well in it.
However, I’m also mindful that, as highlife legend Nana Kwame Ampadu pointed out to me years ago, “Even the sea is happy when rain falls into it”. Of course nobody refuses a good offer or a free gift even if they have no need of it.
The peasant farmers, who in their own way play equally important roles but have no way of being able to build a house, have to be content with sometimes ridiculous, insulting prizes. What is the essence of celebrating the nation’s farmers if it’s not to serve as encouragement and attract new blood?
Admittedly, it can be imagined that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find sponsors and donors. However, interestingly, in the same Eastern Region of the toilet roll scandal some of recipients reportedly got respectable packages. Why can’t the regional committees ensure that all the category winners get the same, or similar, prize packages?
I believe that there are many small farmers who are virtually killing themselves for family, community and country, but whose earnings can never build them a house. To me, these are the people who need to be shown the nation’s appreciation of their sacrifices through fantastic prizes, such as houses.
It is known that in Africa the small farmers have as important a role in the economy as the big ones.
Indeed, it is argued in some quarters that it is the small farmers, notably women, who are feeding Africa because the big-time farmers mostly concentrate on export cash crops, while the smallholders and peasant farmers grow the food that the people eat.
Rewarding deserving peasant farmers with houses, even modest ones, could also serve as the much-needed incentive to encourage more school leavers to go into farming. In fact, these days the cynical comment one hears in farming communities is that if one is poor one can’t succeed even in farming.
Other factors for consideration include the growing concern about lack of interest of the youth in cocoa farming, which is essential to the national economy, as well as the urgent calls for adding value to agricultural produce. Why not reward the Most Promising Young Cocoa Farmer and the Most Enterprising Young Agro-Processing Farmer with a house, or a car, to attract other youth?
Regarding the main prize, perhaps what the government needs to do is to honour the National Best Farmer in another way. Why not, for example, appointment to the Council of State for a year, until the selection of the next winner?
Again, is it not time to take a serious look at the whole Farmers Day celebration and make changes?
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