Small holder farmers, under the umbrella of the Ghana Trade and livelihoods Coalition (GTLC), have said that after 25 years of its observance, the annual Farmers' Day celebrations have done little to impact productivity and the growth of agriculture in Ghana. "We are not asking for just cloth, sewing machines or even cars or houses for the fortunate farmers. After twenty five years of celebration, most of the earlier winners are yet to take off or are stagnated. "Unlike the numerous themes selected, celebrated and dumped every year, we want to be assured that this year's theme does not suffer the same fate as its predecessors but that budgetary allocation is made by government to strengthen aspects of the FASDEP II that will bring that about (sic). A strengthened value chain system that targets small holder farmers and the women who are into parboiling and processing is a priority." A select group of farmers drawn from Okyereko, Asutsuare, Ada and Ashaiman expressed these concerns at a press briefing in Accra as part of activities marking this year's National Farmers Campaign, a Civil Society initiative begun in 2006 "with the objective of critically analyzing the effect of government's national farmers' day celebration and making concrete proposals to enhance the process." Presenting the statement, Ben Kanati of the Ashaiman Farmers Co-operative Union, said the annual event must seek to assess interventions targeted at making farmers more productive and viable as businesses. The Farmers' Day Celebration, he added, must serve majority and not a select few of farmers if government truly seeks a transformation of the agric sector. "It is our believe that unless concerted effort is made, that includes providing adequate budgetary support, for the creation of sustainable self funding agriculture support system, the long term security of agriculture as a livelihood source, as an opportunity to industrialize and also sustainably provide healthy and affordable food to Ghana will be in jeopardy." Another issue of concern for the farmers is the skewed nature of project based support systems which is becoming the order of the day in the sector. According to the concerned farmers, only a few of them are recognized and supported under the system. Even so, they argued, "the end of a project spells doom for most farmers located in project areas. "Among many incentives, certified seed provisioning, good extension service, training in fertilizer and machinery use are the preserve of farmers in project areas as long as the project is funded. The majority of small holder farmers who are involved in the bulk of food crops do not however get the opportunity to benefit from such support systems, thereby marginalizing a large potential." This year's National Farmers Day will be observed on December 3, at Somanya in the Eastern Region under the theme "Grow More Food." Source: Public Agenda