Volta Region Plants the Seeds for Ghana’s Future at the 41st National Farmers’ Day
Ho, Volta Region, Ghana
The Oxygen City Breathes Life
Ho. The Oxygen City. Where the air tastes like rain-soaked earth and promise.
At dawn, the Volta Regional Stadium stirred. Not with the roar of a crowd, but the quiet rhythm of hands breaking soil—metaphorical, this time. Farmers in faded smocks, fishers with salt-crusted stories, processors with calloused palms. They filed in under a sky heavy with clouds, the kind that whisper of bountiful rains to come. By 10 a.m., 5,000 strong. Dignitaries from Accra. Chiefs in kente robes. Youth with apps on their phones, mapping yields like digital compasses. The 41st National Farmers’ Day wasn’t just held here. It grew here.
Theme That Took Root
“Feed Ghana, Eat Ghana, Secure the Future.”
Words on a banner, yes. But in Ho? A living manifesto. Minister of Food and Agriculture Eric Opoku took the podium first. No podium, really—just a raised platform of woven palm fronds, grounding the moment in the soil it celebrated.
“We’ve cut imports by 15% this year. Volta’s yams, cassava, tilapia—they’re not just food. They’re our shield.”
The crowd nodded. A fisherman from Ada Foah raised a tilapia, silver scales catching the sun. Sixty percent of Ghana’s protein, right there in one flash.
Awards: Sweat Rewarded
The durbar unfolded like a harvest ritual. Drums from the Volta lowlands. Highlife horns cutting through the humid air.
- Overall Best Farmer: Ama Serwaa, 52, from Kpando. Her cassava farm? A model of agroforestry—intercropped with legumes that fixed nitrogen like clockwork. Tricycle and GH¢10,000 cheque. She wept, not for the prize, but for her late husband’s unyielding hoe.
- Fisher of the Year: Kofi Mensah, Adaklu. Inland aquaculture innovator. His tilapia ponds? Solar-powered, zero-waste. A boat for his fleet, plus training for 50 more.
- Livestock Luminary: District nods to a Ho poultry pioneer who turned kitchen scraps into 500 layers.
President John Dramani Mahama pinned the medals himself. His voice, steady:
“You feed us. Today, we stand with you.”
The Fair That Flowed
No silos here. The week prior? A torrent. From November 26 to December 8, the 24-Hour Volta Trade and Investment Fair pulsed non-stop. Stalls under canopies: Yam chips vacuum-sealed for export. Palm oil in eco-jars. Youth pitching drone-sprayed fields to wide-eyed investors from China and the EU.
Dela Gadzanku, AGI Chairman for Volta, Oti, Eastern, beamed amid the bustle.
“GH¢20 million budget? We stretched it with partnerships. J.A. Horgli’s GH¢50,000 was the seed. Now? Deals worth millions.”
Breakouts hummed: Policy wonks debating climate-resilient seeds. SMEs reverse-pitching to banks. A cultural night—Agbadza dances blurring into investor handshakes.
Gunu’s Groundswell
James Gunu, Volta’s Regional Minister, didn’t speechify. He walked. Through the fair at midnight. Into district durbars the week before. At the soiree’s echo, his words lingered:
“This is our privilege. Our fertile plains feed the nation. Hosting? It’s our harvest moon—lighting paths for jobs, tourism, agri-dreams.”
Benefits bloomed: Local hotels at 90% occupancy. Street vendors slinging jollof from Volta rice. Youth forums sparking 200+ apprenticeships. And the spirit? Unity. Hospitality Volta-style—strangers fed, stories swapped, futures sown.
Echoes in the Earth
As dusk fell on December 5, the stadium emptied not to silence, but to songs. Highlife fading into the Volta hills.
Minister for Fisheries Emilia Arthur lingered, tracing a child’s drawing of a fish farm.
“Three million livelihoods. Sixty percent protein. This day? It’s their anthem.”
Volta didn’t just host. It nourished. A region once shadowed by floods and droughts now seeds resilience. Imports down. Exports up. Futures secured—one yam, one pond, one unbreakable spirit at a time. The Soil Still Turns. District celebrations ripple on. Fair deals close next quarter. And Ghana? Hungrier for homegrown.
From the fields of Ho, where every step tills tomorrow. AIME
