Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Members of the Concerned Farmers Association have cautioned against what they said are attempts by detractors to sabotage the good works of the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.
The Association says it has observed with concern, recent unwarranted attacks aimed at the Minister by some faceless elements seeking to denigrate the highly respected reputation of the Minister and his impeccable leadership at the Ministry.
According to them, no Minister in the history of the country’s democracy has brought significant progress to the agricultural sector like Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, stressing that the various interventions introduced by the Honourable Minister since 2017 have improved the lots of many farmers and farmer groups in the country.
The statement by the Concerned Farmers Association follows a call by the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union(GAWU) for the Minister’s resignation.
The Concerned Farmers noted that recent challenges confronting the agricultural sector was not limited only to Ghana, stressing that every country across the globe was going through similar challenges due to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We all saw how the Planting for Food and Jobs programme came to the rescue of the country and the rest of West African sub-region during the peak of the pandemic, we must not forget too soon as a country”
The President of the Association opined that rather than criticising the Minister, the country, particularly stakeholders in the agriculture sector should rally behind him in the midst of the setbacks “so that together we can all overcome these challenges”
“For we as farmers and farmer groups, we are very much satisfied with the performance of the Minister; any call for his resignation or dismissal will be highly out of place” the Group said.