The sorry picture peasant farmers have painted about the state of their occupation in recent times could not have been direr.
Literally throwing their hands in the air in despair, they say they do not have sufficient inputs such as fertiliser to feed their farms. With one of them claiming it has never been this bad in the past thirty years, poor harvests could be beckoning the nation, the repercussions of which can only be imagined.
Peasant farming accounts for a substantial quantity of food crops produced and consumed in the country and any government which pays lip-service to this fact will be acting unwisely.
For them to threaten cutting down on their farms just so they can manage the quantity of inputs at their disposal speaks about what awaits the country in terms of food crops production. Besides affecting food production, this would impact our efforts to reverse poverty, which is already on the rise in both the rural and urban areas.
Wouldn’t the youth shy away from farming if such challenges are being faced by the ageing farmers? And the authorities pretend to be making farming attractive for the youth?
Sufficient information has been sent to government about what is happening to farmers in the country in real time. We do not expect the relevant authorities to overlook the pleas and treat it with the usual ‘business as usual’ approach.
It is disgusting to think that the situation has been triggered somewhat by the bad blood between the Finance and Agriculture ministers, both of them vying for the flagbearership slot of their party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Ghanaians would never forget the NDC should the situation of the farmers result in poor harvests. We cannot afford to fold our arms as the two ministers refuse to resolve their differences but rather allow this to spill to the public space with irritating repercussions.
We do not care about their personal interests but rather what inure to the good of the country, and that is abundant food at affordable prices.
Unfortunately, the President is yet to respond to the growing incidence of indiscipline that has gripped his government as witnessed by ministers trading invectives in the media. These appointees must be called to order lest the arrogance impacts good governance, which is happening already.
At this time, we expect the President to issue a statement responding to the plight of the farmers. This has gone beyond the ministers whose reactions would only exacerbate the situation because of the incendiary rhetoric these would contain.
The planting season is on, and if farmers are unable to get the assurance so they can plan their assignments, harvests would be impacted definitely.
Farms are hungry for fertilisers as the farmers said, and would need these inputs in their assorted forms to rejuvenate them for the next bout of planting which is due.
The Finance and Agriculture Ministers must work hand in hand to ensure the country does not suffer poor harvests and their attendant negative impacts. If they cannot, they must get off the positions they hold.