144 farmers and fishermen will receive awards at the 35th edition of this year’s Farmers’ Day in the Volta Region. 96 Agricultural farmers, 20 fishermen and 28 farmers from the cocoa sector will receive Awards.
Minister of State in Charge of Agriculture, Dr. Gyiele Nurah who made this known on GBC’s Current Affairs Programme, FOCUS on Uniiq FM, said 13 best farmers from all the 16 Regions are going to compete for the ultimate prize.
He said the selection process was transparent without any hitches.
Dr. Nurah said to encourage Ghanaians to patronise made in Ghana agricultural products government has instituted a number of measures to ensure that Ghanaians develop the taste for local produce.
He said to grow the local Poultry Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture has deliberately cut the importation of Poultry products by 15 percent.
President of the Ghana Agriculture Chamber of Commerce, Philip Abayori said government must take a serious look at linking Agriculture to Industries.
He said the current challenge is that though the Food and Agriculture Ministry is assisting farmers to produce more with surplus it falls on another Ministry like Trade and Industry to take the surplus and package, which posses a lot of challenges.
He said government should consider placing industries under the Agriculture Ministry so it could have direct influence and supervision.
A member of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, Eric Osei Wusu said government must ensure proper coordination within the Agricultural Value Chain so as to create more jobs for the youth.
