Change Farmers Day to Agriculture Day To Reflect Current Trends

We are in 2021, the 21st century, and the days of sophisticated agriculture should Ghana still be celebrating Farmer’s Day or Agriculture Day? Agriculture refers to the cultivation of animals, plants, and other living things in order to produce food and other products used to sustain human life.

Change Farmers Day to Agriculture Day

Agriculture includes farming. They have a lot in common as well as a lot of differences. Agriculture encompasses a wide range of activities, including production, research, and development, as well as farming. It is also the science or function of farming, which includes soil cultivation for agricultural growth and animal husbandry for food, wool, and other goods. Farming, on the other hand, is the activity or business of raising crops and livestock.

The medieval narrow understanding of agriculture was farming, where farming was so narrowly defined and perceived to be growing crops and raising livestock. This can no longer hold in the 21st century where farming encompasses the varied components of the agriculture sector.

Today using the term Farmers Day shows a narrow view through the telescope since agriculture is not all about food crops and cash crops but as a means of sustaining the ecosystem. At the onset of the Farmers Day celebration in Ghana, it was mainly about those who grow food crops to feed the nation and cash crops for export with Cocoa farmers being significantly recognized.

From 1980 Ghana headed slowly towards suffering severe drought, starvation, and malnutrition which hit its peak in 1983 leading to a threat to national food security in the country.

Ghana’s first-ever Farmers Day was held in 1985 as a brainchild of then Provisional National Defense Council. The decision was due to Ghana’s 30% growth in the farming industry as it was called then. Ghana largely depended on the farmers to feed the nation but in 1984 the drought ended and the country slowly recovered, recording an impressive 30% growth in the industry through the hard work of farmers who produced the needed food crops and protein (fish) to feed the nation.

The efforts of crop and fish farmers informed the decision of the country’s leaders to introduce Ghana Farmers Day every first Friday of December. Today, Ghana’s farmers and do not include only crop and fish farmers. The inaugural Ghana Farmer’s Day took place at Osino, a town in Ghana’s Eastern region. Because Osino had been the worst hit by the droughts, it was chosen as the primary location.

The Farmers  Day celebration has evolved from what it used to be at the first-ever Farmers day to the present celebration. It is time for Ghana to rebrand the farmers’ day to keep the brand more current and this must include the altering of the name of the celebration.

The evolution of the celebration has seen several subsectors of Agricultural activities and categories being introduced into the award scheme of the celebration of those who put all the relevant components of food on our tables which also includes service providers within the supply chain.

These strategic and significant changes need to be echoed in the name of the celebration to reflect the modern celebration hence the need to change the name of the celebration from Farmers Day to Agriculture Day. On this day we celebrate all those who are working within the Agric sector and not just farmers.

Ghana has celebrated farmers’ day 36 times and the one to be held on Friday 3rd December would be the 37th celebration. However over the years, farming has evolved and does not relate to only those who cultivate crops but fishermen, poultry farmers among others. There are many individuals, groups, and companies in Agriculture and provide valuable support services without which the owners of farms often called farmers would not succeed. While some stakeholders are involved in direct agricultural activities other are indirectly working up and down the supply chain.

Looking at the Agricultural sector merely as involving farming can obscure the sophisticated nature of Agriculture of the 21st century. The need for Ghana’s strategic drift in the Agricultural sector needs to be hinged on not just the strategies but the name of the celebration. Thinking Agric and championing it is a great challenge that brings on board all the subsectors and players. It can propel a new dimension of thinking. The term farming is still unattractive to the youth, Agriculture is more attractive and includes several professions which can be articulated for the youth if we are to achieve the desire for many more to get into Agriculture and not just farming.

Farming is not all about farmers hence celebrating farmers has evolved for which reason the name of the celebration “Farmers Day” needs to be rebranded and changed to Agric Day or Agriculture Day. The name Agriculture Day is more integrating and presents a complete picture of what we are really celebrating every year as a nation. 

Source: Wisdom Kojo Eli Hammond