Letter to Wifee

Dear Baby,
Must I always complain
That u have placed in front of me a mountain??
No my dear, such thoughts, I will not entertain…
With hope, I will sustain the fountain of love
In order not to stain my fame.
Before the sun sets, I will cook for u,
the plantain I bought from Spain ..
Don’t complain if its tears-tained.
It is my protestation to all the pain…

Fear

Fear is nothing. It has no life, no substance,
no locus and no bearing. Fear is dead, It is death.
Fear is the insignificance of zero,
the dulled edge of farmer's cutlass
the fruitlessness of a barren land
the chains of a slave, the mentally enslaved
Fear is air, fear is vaccuum
It only finds shelter in the eyes that gives it vision,
the ear that grants it audience,
the skin upon which its feelings explode
the mind by whose fertility thoughts are born
the mouth by whose words darkness is formed
the hand through which calabashes slip and fall
Let the giver of the vision desist
Tell the ear of the audience to resist
Plead the mind to persist
Let the skin refuse to cower
And Prod the mouth to chant with power

My Dream

This is the day of which i dreamt
Under the shadow of my one-tenth rented tent
Your lips i will kiss
Till i faint in sleep

Distressed

More than just distressed,
I'm harassed of the mind
Perplexed of the soul
Emasculated of my sensibilities
Ripped of a certain joy
I'm just a pale shadow of myself

PROVOKED

I have been provoked
My toe has been stepped upon
I have been nose-poked by charlatans
And looked down upon by soul serenading shenanigans,
Overlooked by thorns that thrive in the desert places,
Trampled by egoists who toot their horns over the mountainous places
Abused by storms that trod the corridors of presidential places
Across the platonic plains and fickle fields
I see the doom of the Downtrodden
And the curse of the crestfallen
But from the doldrums I shall arise,
I will arise from within the dungeons
That faithful to myopic ram-shackled whims of its father-creator,
Shackle me to the twilight of nonentity,
Erasing in cognito any trace of my identity
Plunging me still neck deep into the insignificance of a fool’s stop,
Then like a beckoning boomerang turn around to raise a mockery on the ant hill’s mole
But I shall not retort, nor shall I report, the folly of they and their cohorts
Who 2 light years ago before the sea-shelled sea communed with the benign waves of the Korley Lagoon; fought from this position, despised and castaway.
Who will begrudge this murmuring today! They ought to know,
Being adorned with the dipo-adorned beauty of knowledge,
that virgin knowledge, which today has deserted and seered the sanctity of their conscience.
Sanity shall not return to where vanity prevail; nor shall we in our poverty, the rich hail
Lest it be veiled with the contamination. We cannot fail… not to fail.
Per chance if I dance in my dreams to the melodious tune of the faithful flute,
Know that I’m in Utopia. Where my voice dare deserts its dearest owner,
Where my speech will not be muffled mute by faceless fickle-minded thugs
And crushed into smokeful smithereen’s gloomy oblivion

Yet, I shall arise in might and evoke upon them the blessings of divine deity
But I shall not retort nor report the folly of they and their cohorts
Who 2 light years ago fought from this position, despised
I will only rise in might and with a waved of my right hand
Evoke upon them the blessings of divine deity
I will not even remind them of the yester years of 2 light years
The blessings of the divine deity will i only invoke
And remember to remind them that i will no more be provoked
I will let sleeping dogs lie, for the art of vengeance is no more in vogue

THE FALL

I have seen it all

How many great men fall

Lo! it is here with me

Far it was from me or so it seemed

Alas, I wait in pain, nothing to gain but shame

For it happened that vanity was my bane

A moment of pleasure

And i lost the life that was given without measure

I despised purity

The result, Unfulfilled destiny

Now i know full well, that all is vanity

Yet I know i will answer to posterity

For i owed them a duty

It is not my dirge i sing

But for generations time will bring

And so it came

Earlier than anticipated, but it came

With icy hands and clenched teeth it came

Along the windy path it came

Without mercy it came

To lay its claim

And it shall come to pass,

That your truly shall cripple in death

Unto ashes he shall return

Unto the earth's bosom he shall disappear

Our voices he will no more hear

From dust he came, to dust he will disappear

The Writer: Frederick Mills

GHANA’S AGRICULTURAL POLICIES-

THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

For a country with 60% of its workforce employed in Agriculture and allied industries, it is surprising to note that Ghana has chalked only minor successes in Agriculture since independence. Its progress can best be described as stunted or stagnated. Sadly, the situation is not peculiar to this country but is to a large extent a reflection of the dwindling Agricultural fortunes of most Sub-Saharan African Countries. At a cursory glance, the much trumpeted clichés of instability of governments, weak capacity of state institutions and poor infrastructural development readily comes to mind. Whilst it is true that these factors are the major militants against improvements in agriculture and agricultural infrastructure, based on my training in agriculture, I can say without a shadow of doubt that a critical approach to unraveling the sector’s challenges would reveal the underlying problems to be:

1. Lack of well thought out policies and other intervention measures.

2. Inability to implement appropriate policies to a logical conclusion.

3. Skewed nature of lending to other sectors of the economy thus choking lending to the productive sectors such as agriculture.

4. Inability to link research to real life situations on the farms.

5. Failure to mechanize our farming systems resulting in a hugely semi-subsistence farming even to this day.

Admittedly, some of the general reasons listed above may fall under the five major challenges I have enumerated. In fact, the last three challenges (3-5) enumerated may be captured under the broader challenge to do with policies (1 & 2 above). For the sake of emphasis and clarity however, I have decided to delink them. In this article, I intend to recount how our agricultural policies have since independence failed to address the problems bedeviling agriculture and suggest solutions to ameliorate them.

Policies are not an end by themselves but means by which identified objectives or targets could be attained. These objectives reflect the long term aim and therefore can only be achieved by a set of coherent decisions. The choice of policy instrument to adopt will then depend on the current state of the sector and the pace at which reforms are required. Generally, there’s a difficulty in identifying the influence of specific individual policies on the sector. A painstaking assessment is therefore required to be able to single-out the impact of individual policies on the general performance of the Agricultural sector.

At independence, farming in Ghana was largely subsistent. Despite low production volumes from this system of farming, policies measures were not tailored towards engendering/engineering a movement to commercially oriented farming and farming practices but skewed towards production of export crops for export. The channeling of resources towards the cultivation of cocoa (over which Ghana had comparative advantage) is credited with the meteoric rise of Ghana to become the World’s leading producer of cocoa at one stage. Revenue accrued from sale of cocoa on the world market was enough to fund food imports. After independence, the state pursued a socialist agenda, a period which saw a sideline of subsistence farming in pursuit of co-operative agriculture. After the coup de tat that overthrew the government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, various governments instituted various policy measures aimed at revamping the sector. Overall, these policies were geared towards large scale production to the detriment of small scale producers. Over this period, most agricultural programmes tendered to be ad hoc, only responding to specific situations and not the overall needs of the sector.

In 1983 following from the downward spiral of the economy, the economic recovery programme (ERP) was launched. The ERP which was intended to address the physical imbalances in the economy was designed to be rolled-out in 3 phases. The first phase, spanning 1983-1985 was to stabilize the economy. The second phase which ran from 1986-1988 was designed to improve production capacity whilst the third phase covering 1989-1995 was to allow for sustainable growth. The Medium Term Agricultural Development programme (MTADP) was also introduced within the overlapping period of 1991-2000 as joint world bank/Government of Ghana project to strengthen success chalked under the ERP. Policy instruments in this direction were tailored towards a demand driven agriculture both domestically and on the export market. It was this period that saw the liberalization of the economy and the removal of subsidies on many agricultural inputs. Over the years, through policy interventions at the various stages, the degree of market integration improved as farmers were now more responsive to signals and triggers in the marketplace. Nevertheless, Agriculture has hardly moved from semi-subsistence to commercial cultivation. To ensure a transition to sustainable commercial farming leading to food security, a conscientious effort must be made at mechanizing our production backed by well funded irrigation projects.

As a state we have relied too much on the forces of nature (rain fed agriculture) to determine the direction of our agriculture. Irrigation is one of the surest ways of reducing the risks inherent in agriculture. It is in our hands to ensure food security and posterity will not forgive us if we squander the wealth of this nation whilst pertinent issues such as ones relating to Agriculture are left unattended. It is for us as a nation to identify the direction and speed at which we want changes in our current Agriculture position. This consultative process must be broad based and must not be allowed to drown in myopic political ideologies. The interest of the country must tower above the parochial interest of political parties and politics. After all was the law made for man? or man for the law?

Further, there must be deliberate link between research institutions (state and privately funded) and farming such that research findings and discovery will have a marked effect on production. In my view, financing should be approached from the co-operative angle where farmer associations are provided with credit and subsidies on production inputs to motivate them to increase output. I consider the co-operative system to be more viable option of financing as responsibility is placed on the leaders of farmer associations to ensure smooth running of credit facilities and that funds devoted are put to desired use.

I trust that with these measures and with foresight and the right policies our Agriculture will grow in leaps and bounds. This is the future of Agriculture.

Birthday Blues

You know folks.... There are some days you look back to and smile to yourself. Those are days etched in the anals of one's memory. Its all so surreal when things begin to happen and then you start thinking .... Is this all a grand set-up?? Now hear what happened to me on my bday... October 15, 2009.

Woes of a Birthday Boy
Guys, I had a blast today. My ride could not start this morning even though i was extremely late. When it finally did, it left me in the middle of the road…Reason?.. Fuel was used up(One gallon I guess). I had to get down and push the car in my designer jacket and T.M Lewin tie.….not to mention the early morning rush hour (with all the fresh ababes staring... ah!! lol) . I found a gallon at one God-forsaken shack after walking some few kilometers and when I got to our beloved SHELL "filling station", they refused to fill it under the guise of non conformity to safety standards (safety my foot!!... Whatever happened to mercy for a dying man??). I trudged a few more kilometers and finally I had my fill, the battery would not budge…………. Long story uh??... Well, I managed to crawl to the office to meet this grand party from my colleagues... . Well, Well , Well…….. The "Olumen" in my village say that “all is well that ends well”. Right??... We live to see what omens mean……….. One Luv folks....

Damsel

I say of you damsel,
You are a precious pearl
If you doubt the truth,
Then give me a proof

Conning a babe

O.K... So how many u guys have conned a difficult babe. Eh.. I mean no answer is good for her... Can u imagine??.. After after all the notes u chew to impress??

WELCOME TO THE BLOGS ...!!!

CLEARLY... CLEARLY...CLEARLY.... I'm lost for words..I'm now a blogger. Hurray!!!
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And me say.... Well come to the blogs BOY...