Dr Akoto calls for collaboration between agric officials, farmers
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has called for collaboration between officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers this year in order to deal with food security issues in the country.
He noted that it was his dream that a time would come in the history of Ghana when food would be in abundance.
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"Let us help the farmers of this country so that Ghana can be more secure for agriculture activities and policies to strive for, which would translate into solving food security challenges in the country,” the minister said.
Dr Akoto said this at a durbar for staff of the ministry at the forecourt of the Ministry of Agriculture last Tuesday.
Also present at the durbar were Deputy Ministers of Food and Agriculture and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton Constituency, Alhaji Mohammed Hardi Tufeirua and Yaw Frimpong Addo.
He also asked the staff not to relent in making challenges of food security in the country a thing of the past.
"I beg of you for the dedication with which you approached your work last year and the previous years, please carry it into 2023 so that we can all make this sector better," the minister noted.
Notwithstanding, Dr Akoto asserted at the durbar that, this year was not going to be a smooth ride.
Challenges
"The year ahead of us is going to bring a lot of challenges but together as a team, we will sail through. We ended last year with a very successful Farmers Day Celebration in Koforidua and I'm confident that at the end of this year, we are going to celebrate farmers with another big successful event,” the minister said.
Hardworking staff
Away from that, Dr Akoto acknowledged that the success of 2022 that the ministry boasted of could not have been possible without his staff.
"To everybody, from the cleaner to the gate man to the directors, I'm ever grateful to you for supporting the work of this ministry. I am always proud to say that in this ministry, we have an assembly of highly qualified experts.
“It is no doubt that a lot of energy was needed last to achieve the objectives of the ministry but you came through. Your dedication to work and this ministry is going far because they are the architect of what we do, thank you," he stated.
The deputy ministers, on the other hand, expressed their gratitude to the staff and the minister for believing in their capabilities and bringing them on board.
Hard work
They noted that success could only be achieved through hard work and that was what working with Dr Akoto had taught them since they joined the ‘train’.
“We have set a standard to beat last year and we can only achieve it with teamwork. Let us work harder to sustain the gains of last year’s victory, especially the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative,” they noted.
On the part of some of the staff who spoke at the gathering, they noted that the ministry should be deliberate in drumming their achievements home to erase the perception that the ministry sits idle.
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