Ghana Farmers Day - Investing in our agriculture & harvesting more yield

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"Agriculture covers 60% of the workforce in Ghana". We heard this many times while growing up. Agriculture was and is extremely important in Ghana and we had and still have mostly an agrarian economy. As a country, we have set out a day to honour our farmers (and fishermen) and that day is typically the first Friday of each December - Farmer's Day. Think #Ghana, it's Friday! #TGIF!

Eat what we grow and growing what we eat will remind many Ghanaians of our former head of state Acheampong. He championed an "Operation Feed Yourself" campaign which encouraged sustainable agriculture. This is semi-communicated in this year's theme for Farmer's Day as well - "Reducing Post-Harvest losses for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition". We can't afford to waste the work of our hands. We should afford having adequate food, any given day. We have to able to afford ensuring proper nutrition for all, so we can all live long like Nelson Mandela.
I once met an award-winning farmer in the Brong Ahafo Region when I was there doing D-Lab work with my buddy Chief Anku, Amy Smith and co. He had a huge farm and he was supporting a lot of people. Watching the Farmer Awards on TV, one great feature that rang as the farmers were introduced was how many people they supported, employed and how they were contributing to their communities. Major congrats to Alhaji Awudu Karim who hails from the Kasena Nankana District of the Upper East Region. Does he have a website though? Doesn't he need one? :-)
I ultimately marked Farmer's Day with this blog post but more importantly, I called my father to wish him Happy Farmer's Day. Today, it struck me again. My father is actually a farmer. We (He) have (had) a poultry farm for more than 15 years now. I used to feed chicks and watch them grow, collect eggs, kill chickens, dress them and prepare them for sale. Today, my father's farm is not on our compound but in a whole different location. When I first used to go there, it felt like a trip. Now, I am excited to visit the farm and see the progress that has been made. Ulzenap Farms. My father have learned the trade very well and has even added turkeys to the stock. Chickens from Ulzenap Farms are one in town. They are huge and heavy. Great meat for your money. Are you in Kumasi and you want some? Let me know.
I've always thought of being a bigger part of Ulzenap Farms. I think it could benefit from more innovation and my support. There are many innovative agricultural techniques today and I want to be able to apply some of them. I am not in Kumasi enough these days to make it happen. Many of us could contribute to our agricultural industry similarly. We should research better ways to grow crops and rear livestock. We should engineer better ways to process food and ensure we eat what we grow. We should get innovative ways to build economies of scale to ensure we grow what we eat.

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