General News of Friday, 1 December 2017

Source: classfmonline.com

Mahama salutes farmers

Former President John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama

Former president John Dramani Mahama has congratulated farmers and fishermen across the country on the occasion of Farmers’ Day.

While applauding farmers for providing food for the country, Mr Mahama urged Ghanaians to remind themselves of the hardships farmers go through.

In a post on Facebook, the former Ghanaian leader said his administration “started working on addressing issues of access to finance and mechanised equipment, to help boost productivity and profits. We reinvigorated the Agricultural Mechanisation Centres and launched a Farmer Services Centre Programme that was going to make available affordable and modern equipment to all farmers across the country.

“Funding under the EDAIF was scaled up, and distribution of inputs prioritised. A decent number of fish storage and processing facilities were provided and we also sourced critical funding from Canada, which is financing key programmes in the agricultural sector today.

“We also initiated a programme to attract more of our youth into farming, and I am happy that the results have begun to show.”

Today, 1 December, 2017 marks Ghana’s 33rd National Farmers' Day celebration. The National Farmers' Day is commemorated each year to honour Ghanaian farmers and fishermen.

This year’s celebration is under the theme: “Planting for Food and Jobs”