Agriculture remains Ghana’s surest path to economic independence, yet we continue to sink deeper into the shackles of import dependence, surrendering millions of Ghana Cedis annually for food we could grow ourselves. Once blessed with lush vegetation and thriving river bodies, Ghana was an agricultural haven until illegal mining, galamsey, began eating away its backbone like a slow poison. Today, even the farmer is losing faith in the soil.
The devastation is so pervasive that many farmers now find mining more profitable than tilling the land, not because they love gold, but because their farms can no longer sustain them. Rivers have turned brown, lands lie wounded, and the once-fertile fields that fed households and markets are becoming deathbeds of productivity.
Yet in the midst of this destruction, there remains a resilient breed of Ghanaian farmers—men and women who still rise before dawn, bend their backs to the land, and refuse to surrender to the scourge of galamsey. Their perseverance is commendable, and they deserve national honour far beyond a ceremonial handshake. They continue to feed homes, supply markets, and keep hope alive when the environment gives them every reason to quit.
It is against this backdrop that the annual Farmers’ Day celebration feels painfully hollow. What exactly are we celebrating? Lands that can no longer yield? Rivers that are no longer drinkable? A food system hanging dangerously on a thread?
Each year, resources are poured into pageantry and awarding ceremonies—yet the real threat to food security remains unaddressed. Farming, the pillar of our economy, is collapsing quietly while we applaud the fragments left of it. If we were truly thriving, Ghana would not be importing tomatoes, onions, rice, and other staples—especially not from countries with harsher climates and poorer soils. The moment Burkina Faso closed its borders some years back, prices skyrocketed across our markets, exposing just how dependent we have become.
Even more troubling is the politicisation of the event. Too often, recognition goes to the politically aligned rather than the sweat-stained farmer bending over fields from dawn to dusk. Farmers' Day should not be a platform to reward party loyalty—it should be a national appreciation of the men and women who feed us, especially those who persist despite adversity.
The truth is simple and uncomfortable: Ghana cannot celebrate farming while destroying farmland. If the government fails to crush the menace of galamsey, the future of food production will be bleak. We will continue to rely on foreign produce, while local farmers become spectators in a sector they once dominated.
Until the land is restored, the rivers revived, and the farmer empowered, Farmers’ Day will remain a celebration without substance—a tradition with no backbone.
Long the Ghana farm
Long live especially, vulnerable women who are into farming
And long live our Motherland
The Trial News
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